DeMolay on the Radio, 1935

How many channels are there on your TV today? And how many of them have a special DeMolay broadcast, featuring top bands, political leaders and the world’s most famous cartoon producer?

The answer to the first must be in the hundreds. The answer to the second is “none.”

But in 1935, when there were only three big networks, the answer was “one.”

I’ve found a couple of newspaper clippings about it. The best one comes from the front page of the Gallup Independent of May 4th that year; Gallup Chapter had formed in New Mexico by 1925. Other Chapters across the U.S. held similar listening parties.

Ideals of DeMolay To Be Broadcast
Members Will “Listen In” at Stag Party at Masonic Hall

The Grand Council of the Order of DeMolay will be on the air from 8:30 to 9:00 p. m. tomorrow evening, Sunday, May 5. The half hour on the air is thru the courtesy of the Columbia Broadcasting System.
KSL, Salt Lake City, as well as Dallas, Tex., and the rest of the Columbia System will have the program at that time. The purpose of the time on the air is to spread the ideals of the order over the United States and Canada.

Speakers for the half hour will include: Hubert L. Pettey, secretary of the Federal Communications commission, Washington, D. C, Hal Kemp and his famous orchestra from the Hotel Pennsylvania in New York City; Walt Disney, creator of Mickey Mouse, and Buddy Rogers, Hollywood. All of these men are members of the Legion of Honor of the Order of DeMolay.

President Roosevelt, who is the Honorary Grand Master of the order, has been asked to speak.
At the conclusion of the broadcast the 9 o'clock interpolation of the order will be given. This is a prayer for father, mother and country.
Gallup Chapter of the order has planned a stag party for the occasion at the Masonic hall, with all members, Mason[s] and prospective members invited to attend.

No doubt the records of the International Supreme Council have details about the event somewhere. It was awfully late on the East Coast—a 10:30 p.m. start time—and the network sent other programming to some stations, including a dance music show to the West Coast. In some cities, the DeMolay party started earlier in the evening with the broadcast capping the night’s event.

Also part of the programme were DeMolay founder Frank S. Land, and Donald Novis, who gained great fame a few years later as the tenor on the Fibber McGee and Molly radio show. Novis maintained a connection with fellow Senior DeMolay Disney—he sang in the movie Bambi and was a featured act at Disneyland from its opening until his retirement (neither he nor Disney became a Freemason).

But to get back to the original musing—why is it there is room on television for endless shows about self-absorbed celebrities, trailer trash paternity tests, “reality” shows where people deliberately display the nastiest behaviour toward their fellow man, and cartoons designed to rudely shock, but no room for even one half-hour devoted to remind people to be faithful to their friends, treat others with respect, follow the laws of the land and become better people?