Joe R. Manning, Jr., 33°
PO Box 8
Cushing, Oklahoma, 74023–0008

Bro. Will Rogers was the original "super star," the first living person to be known in every country worldwide.

He petitioned Claremore Lodge, now renamed Will Rogers Lodge No. 53, and was initiated an Entered Apprentice on February 21, 1905. One year and 17 days later (March 10, 1906), he was Passed to the Degree of Fellowcraft. Three days later, on March 13, he was raised to the Sublime Degree of Master Mason.

We do not know why the time was shortened. In the 1906 Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Indian Territory, M.W. Richard Choate, Grand Master, simply notes that "for good and sufficient reasons" he issued a dispensation to Claremore Lodge to confer the Master Mason Degree on W. P. Rogers out of time.

Yes, he was a Mason, and he said: "The income tax has made more liars out of the American people than golf has."
He petitioned McAlester Scottish Rite Consistory on August 19, 1906, but did not go to the Temple to receive his Scottish Rite Degrees until April 1908. On the petition, he listed his occupation as "rancher." An earlier author, writing while people were still alive who had been a part of that class, noted:

"Apparently, his destined greatness was a small flame at the time. Other men were chosen class officers and occupied the front seats in the class picture. That photo hangs in the second floor gallery of the McAlester Temple. Guides make it a point to show it to visitors, who seem to recognize Brother Will quickly, so little did the man's features change over the years.
"The famous cowboy is seated extreme left, third row. His sheafy black hair parts on the left; his right hand, drawn in a clench, supports his head at the point of his lower jaw. He's shown with that wide, whimsical smile—caught by so many cameras and exaggerated by so many cartoonists down through the years."

"Fewer and fewer become the number who recall the Webber Reunion [at which Will Rogers joined the Scottish Rite]. But those who survive remember even then Rogers was hailed as a crack story-teller. At intermissions, he'd be the core of a happy, back-slapping group, they say, and Will invariably would be doing the talking."

He was a Mason, and he said: "I was told the other day that some remarks of mine had been printed in the Congressional Record. Now there's no higher praise for a humorist than being printed in the Congressional Record. Those men are the pros. With Congress every time they make a law, it's a joke. And every time they make a joke, it's a law."

On October 11, 1914, he petitioned Akdar Shrine Temple in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and walked the hot sands six days later. But there is an important change between his Scottish Rite and his Shrine petitions. He now listed his occupation as "vaudeville performer."

Fifteen short years later, he was no longer a vaudeville performer. He was, perhaps, the best-known single individual in the world—a movie star, a newspaper columnist, a radio personality, the friend of presidents and kings. He was the original "super star," the first living person to be known in literally every country and every continent on the globe. He was called the best-loved man in the world, a title never given to anyone before or since. He was America's first ambassador to the world. His popularity, judged by the numbers of people who read his work or watched his movies or listened to him on the radio, was greater than that of Elvis Presley and the Beatles combined. He was awarded more official honors, by more nations, than any other person.

He was a Mason, and he said: "Everything is funny, as long as it's happening to somebody else."

In 1931, at the height of his fame, he returned to the McAlester Temple. A prolonged drought had hit Oklahoma. Combined with the Great Depression, it meant financial disaster and even starvation for many Oklahomans. During the summer of 1931, one of the hottest on record, Brother Will flew around the state, giving performances at no charge and raising thousands of dollars to aid in relieving the citizens of his home state. One of the performances took place in the auditorium of the McAlester Scottish Rite Temple. He played to a full house; there was no standing room left. He gave the money to help his neighbors, and then he flew out of McAlester forever.

He was a Mason, and he said: "I don't make jokes, I just watch the government and report the facts."

Four years later, on August 15, 1935, he and his friend and pilot Wiley Post were killed in an airplane crash near Point Barrow, Alaska. For the first time in history, the entire world went into mourning for this man and Mason who said: "This thing of being a hero—about the main thing to do is to know when to die. Prolonged life has ruined more men than it ever made."

The Brethren at McAlester named the next Reunion the Will Rogers Memorial Reunion in his honor. They named the three-story red brick dormitory next to the Temple the Will Rogers Dormitory. And all the Oklahoma Masons built a memorial to him in their hearts, which stands strong to this day.

He said, "I never met a man I didn't like."

And he was a Mason.

Joe R. Manning, Jr. is a Past Grand Sovereign of the Red Cross of Constantine; a Past Grand Master and Past Grand Secretary of the International Order of DeMolay; and a member of the S.G.I.G.'s Advisory Conference for the Valley of Guthrie, Oklahoma. He served as Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Oklahoma in 1985. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from Oklahoma State University and a Juris Doctorate from the College of Law at the University of Oklahoma. Presently, he is Business Manager of the Masonic Charity Foundation of Oklahoma.