Monday, March 30th, 2026
Kindly submitted by RW Bro David Neave
[“Installation at the Celestial Lodge” is a well-known Masonic allegorical story or essay, often credited to James Robert Harrison (1945–2016), a professional photographer, amateur historian, and administrator for Gizah Temple Shrine in Vancouver, BC.]
Over the centuries, many well known men have been members of our fraternity. For a few moments, please allow your imaginations to run wild and consider what may take place at the Installation of The Celestial Lodge, otherwise known as the Grand Lodge Above.
Even though it is late fall, there is a warm breeze blowing and the sun is setting behind the Lodge hall. Gathered in the parking lot filled with their works are Bros Henry Ford, Ransom Olds, Walter Chrysler, John Willys and Andre Citroen. The only vehicle missing is Bro Hart Massey’s tractor.
Greeting members in the entrance hall is Bro Cliff Arquette of Charley Weaver fame and Bro Ed Wynn. In the boardroom, a group of senior DeMolays are gathered including Bros Walter Disney, Chet Huntley, Wendell Corey, Van Johnson, Robert Cummings, John Steinbeck, Fred McMurray and John Cameron Swayze. King Gillette, razor in hand, passes the lodge caretaker who is having a minor problem with his vacuum cleaner, which is quickly cleared up with the help of its inventor, Bro Frank Hoover. While at the other end of the hallway, Bros Emmett Kelly, Clyde Beatty and all seven of the Ringling Bros are discussing the Shrine Circus.
If we take a quick look into the Banquet Hall, we see Bros John Molson, Frederick Pabst and Joseph Schlitz busy rolling in some kegs of beer for Bro Sam Bronfman, late President of Seagrams Distillers, who is setting up the bar for the Festive Board to follow the Ceremony. Bro Colonel Harland Sanders is cooking up a storm in the kitchen and it is an easy guess as to what the evening meal will consist of.
The orchestra members for the dance to follow the Banquet are tuning. Members of this All-Star group include leader WC Hardy, Irving Berlin, George M Cohan, Cyril Stapleton, and Al Jolson. Tonight’s performance will be MC.ed by Bros Arthur Godfrey and Danny Thomas.
Magical Bros Harry Houdini and Harry Blackstone are setting up their props while Bros WC Fields, Oliver Hardy, Bud Abbott, Harpo Marx, and Foster Brooks are fine tuning their comedy routines for tonight’s show, which is being produced by Bros Cecil B DeMille, Flo Ziegfeld, Louis B Mayer, Hall Wallis and DW Griffiths.
A number of sports celebrities are gathered together, including Bros Abe Saperstein, creator of the Harlem Globetrotters, who’s explaining his version of the game to Bro James Naismith, the inventor of the game. They’re joined by baseball players Bros Charles Ebbetts, Ty Cobb, Branch Rickey and Cy Young, the first pitcher to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
A little further along the hall is an array of masons dressed in knee breeches, lace cuffs and powdered
whigs, others, including Bros Kit Carson, Davey Crockett and Buffalo Bill Cody are clad in their familiar buckskins. Chiefs Crazy Bull, Tecumseh and Joseph Brant are in their native attire.
Most colourful are the military uniforms of Lord Nelson, Lord Cornwallis, Captain James Cook, the Duke of Wellington and John Paul Jones. As I gaze in awe at these members of Celestial Lodge, the Grand Master, MW Bro Harry Truman, appears from the preparation room accompanied by Bros John Jacob Astor, Luther Burbank, JC Penney, Adlai Stevenson and Jennings Bryan. Bro John Diefenbaker has just signed the Tyler’s Register with one of Bro John Shaeffer’s pens. He is accompanied by Bros Robert Borden and RB
Bennett, fellow Canadian Prime Ministers, and by Bro Joey Smallwood of Newfoundland.
At this time, the Tyler, Bro J Edgar Hoover, informs the brethren that the meeting is about to come to order. On entering the lodge room the brethren are greeted by the Inner Guard, Bro Paul Revere.
Seated already are polar explorers, Robert F Scott of England and Bro Richard E Bird of the United States, together with Matthew G Perky and Canada’s Henry Larsen. Bro Charles Lindbergh can be seen in deep conversation with Bros Hap Arnold, Gus Grissom, Eddie Rickenbaker and Charles Kingsford-Smith.
From the Junior Warden’s station comes a burst of laughter. Bro Will Rogers has just brought broad
smiles to the faces of the Royal personages gathered around him, including George I, Frederick the Great, Gustav V of Sweden and George VI. To the right of the Junior Warden’s chair, architect Sir Christopher Wren is joined by Statue of Liberty sculptor, Frederic Bartholdi. Bros Norman Vincent Peale and Peter Marshall, who will assume the Chaplain’s duties this evening, are in conversation with the DuPonts, Peter and Victor, and the Rothschilds, James and Nathan.
Gathered around the Secretary’s desk, Bro Rudyard Kipling is discussing the evening’s proceedings with Bro Robert Burns, who is to give one of the Charges assisted by Bro Mark Twain. Also taking part are Bros Conan Doyle, Walter Scott, Samuel Johnson, Alexander Pope and Robert Service.
The Grand Organist, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, is discussing last minute changes with Bros Gilbert and Sullivan. Bros Clark Gable, Peter Sellers, Wallace Beery, Douglas Fairbanks and Brian Donleavy are discussing boxing with champions Jack Dempsey, Jack Johnson and Sugar Ray Robinson. Another small group, in the persons of Bros John Wayne, Hoot Gibson and Tom Mix, are listening to Bro William Thaddeus Phillips, also known as Butch Cassidy.
The founding members, Bros George Washington, Sir John A MacDonald, Guiseppe Garibaldi, Benito
Jaurez, John Hancock and Ben Franklin are seated in the East. They are been joined by Sir Stamford
Raffles, founder of Singapore. The Generals, Omar Bradley, Jimmy Doolittle, George C Marshall, John Pershing and Douglas McArthur, take their seats next to Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill. The Lodge Treasurer, Bro Henry Knox is busy collecting dues from Bros Thomas E Dewey and William McKinley. The Master, MW Bro HRH The Duke of Connaught, raps his gavel to call the Lodge to order and it is now time for us to depart.
With one last took at this brilliant assembly, one wonders what the public’s perception of Freemasonry might be if they were able to visit such a lodge.
[An excellent list of “famous” Freemasons is found here: https://freemasonry.bcy.ca/textfiles/famous.html]
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