A JOLT FROM JILL

by Jill Rumbley Beam

Since the June and July issue is about Arts and entertainment, I’m all over that! Literally, even before I was born, I was in a musical. My mom, Rosemary Rumbley, was cast as the lead, Nellie Forbush, in a production of South Pacific. She was about 6 months pregnant with me, and in one of the scenes, the song, Wash that Man right out of my hair, and the girls had to literally get their hair wet, on stage. Mother would frequently go to her doctor during her pregnancy, and her doctor was worried about getting her hair wet for the eight weeks she was appearing in this show, because he thought she might get sick and it would affect me, while in her tummy, waiting to come out! Turns out she never got sick, and I think I turned out okay.

In elementary school, I was in many plays, musicals, recitals, and band concerts. I remember my first talent show at Umphrey Elementary School. I chose to perform a ballet to the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy from The Nutcracker. Mother made me a beautiful white outfit with feathers. When I got on stage, the feathers started falling off as I danced across it. Everyone always teased my mom and me about the time I molted in the talent show! I also appeared in a musical at Sunset High School when I was in the 3rd grade, Plain and Fancy, about the Amish people. I got to sing a solo on top of a barrel. I was so excited!

In high school, I was very involved in the drama department at David W. Carter. I wanted to appear in all the musicals. In my senior year, I found out that my drama teacher was directing Oklahoma, and I had always wanted to play Ado Annie. I auditioned, got the understudy role, but the consolation was being the stage manager. I was okay with that, but still jealous of the girl who was cast as Ado Annie. This is so mean of me, but I prayed she might forget some of her lines. She never did! Shame on me!

I went to college, Dallas Baptist College, where my mom was the head of speech and drama. Of course, I wanted to be in all her musicals. I appeared in The Music Man, Fiddler on the Roof, and Oklahoma. My senior year in college was the Crème de la Crème.

I auditioned for the role of a deaf character in Finian’s Rainbow. I found out I played opposite a Leprechaun, whose mother was cast with this guy I had a mad crush on. I found out, during the musical, I was going to get to kiss this guy, and he was going to lift me into the air, and I would go dancing off, in one of the scenes. We were at the first rehearsal when my crush was supposed to grab my waist to lift me gently into the air, and my mother shouted, “Good luck lifting 150 pounds of solid rock!” I was never so humiliated in all my life, but I still got to kiss him!

Mother appeared with many “greats,” and I got to meet them all. To name a few: John Davidson, Van Johnson, Ginger Rogers, but the greatest meet-up was when she was cast in the movie Paper Moon, starring Ryan and Tatum O’Neil. I got to go to Hayes, Kansas, where that movie was filmed, and met these two Academy Award winners.

When I became a Jazzercise Instructor in 1980, I got to meet many celebrities. I was a trainer and a monitor for Jazzercise, so I was backstage at several national Jazzer-Jams. The first was Dana Carvey, who played the church lady on Saturday Night Live. The next year, the headliner was the group The Spinners, and I got to meet them. The next year, Jazzercise hired Dr. Ruth Westheimer, the American sex therapist. I also got to dance on stage with Gregory Hines, the American dancer, singer, and choreographer. Those were some great memories of stardom!

I guess now, my greatest brush of stardom is appearing in The Spectacular Follies. I enjoy this show, which I have been performing since 2011. My mother and I were the “comic relief” for years, but she retired from The Spectacular Follies in 2018. This show is a must-see every year, and I hope I will continue performing with this great cast for many years to come.

Just remember, there’s no business-like show business!