Local retirement residents find international fame on YouTube

Header image for Interrobang article CREDIT: WAVERLY MANSION
Residents of Waverly Mansion shot to international fame on YouTube when recreation coordinator Sarah Urquhart pulled residents together to shoot music video for Carly Rae Jepson's "Call Me Maybe."

"Once upon a time" is the perfect description of the Waverly Mansion's rise to fame. Carly Rae Jepson's "Call Me Maybe" has hundreds of renditions and covers, but none quite as unique as the Waverly Mansion residents' take on the song.

Sarah Urquhart, recreation coordinator for local retirement residence Waverly Mansion, pulled 25 residents together to lip-synch the song while making small gestures to act out the lyrics. It wasn't as if Urquhart had to do much convincing to put this together; the residents came sprinting forward to be a part of the video.

"Sarah gets us all going, she kind of gets us all wound up, gets us going, keeps us busy," according to Waverly resident Ralph Voigt.

"These guys know I'm crazy and trust my instincts. I can usually get a good group to participate," said Urquhart. "A few didn't, mainly because explaining the whole concept of … making a video to put on YouTube to someone who knows nothing about that is just not going to happen." However, she added that now that they've seen how it's done and they've seen the popularity and excitement of it all, other residents may want to get involved in the next video.

The quest for fresh ideas and activities was what led Urquhart to draft up the making of the video. "It was just something fun to do. Doing the recreation here, we have about five to seven different programs every day, so to come up with new ideas every month is a challenge. You have to stay on your toes and be creative," she said. "The residents here at the Waverly are so independent and they're still gung-ho zest for life so it was a perfect fit."

The residents felt the same, including Edna Connolley. She had a great time with the video and recounted her favourite part; "(That part of) the song was one line. We had a piece of paper to go by but I still couldn't remember my lines. Sarah told me just to make a noise, so I put both hands together and made a loud noise. I made too much for the rest of them." Connolley said she felt like the star of the show.

In fact, she still feels like a star. "I was at the Legion on Saturday night and they all stood up and clapped and said, 'Here comes the celebrity.'"

Voigt has had similar experiences since the release of the video. His part in the music video was exchanging numbers with one of the women starring as Carly Rae Jepson. Now, he said, "Somehow her and I get recognized! Every time I walk somewhere, (people) are like, 'Did you call her yet?'"

Aside from bringing fame, the video brought closeness. Connolley said she has noticed more interaction among the residents. She said that even residents who weren't involved "chuckle and laugh now and they never did before. They were quiet before but now they've really opened up."

Even though the video helped spur deeper relationships, Voigt said, "This place is like a family anyway," and the video was just an added bonus.

Upon the video's release on YouTube, Urquhart had no intention of gaining this much popularity or any at all. "It was put on YouTube just so family members would have an easy way to access it. They would go on and be able to say, 'Hey! Come look at Grandma, she's in a video and that's hilarious.' But it got so popular and so public."

The Waverly Mansion has received calls from all over the world with a simple message: "You just brought a smile to my face." Calls have come in from Texas, New York, New Orleans and South America and more. The video has been viewed around half a million times since its YouTube debut on November 14.

Urquhart said the video has been such a success that they can't stop there. For the next video, she said, "We have to go with what the public wants. We've been posting all the articles we can find and all the YouTube comments on our wall here and keeping track of the tabs. The request is 'Gangnam Style,' and it will be done."

Dance lessons are underway and residents are already coming forward to be a part of even the most awkward of scenes. The famous elevator scene in the "Gangnam Style" music video with one person lying on the ground in the elevator and another dancing on top in a rodeo type gesture sparked interest by one resident in particular. "One of our residents was like, 'I can get on the floor and someone can get on top of me and dance. No problem!'" Urquhart laughed.

The Waverly Mansion story is far from over. "It is a lot of work, but at the same time, I love that this is my job; I love that I get to do this every day," Urquhart said.

To check out the Waverly superstars' first release, check out tinyurl.com/youtube-callmemaybe2012.