Burl Ives: First Class and Third Degree



Burl Ives (Photo by Carl Van Vechten)

In some ways, Burl Icle Ivanhoe Ives was more thrilled about being a Third Degree Mason than about being a first-class performer.

Ives was not only a first-class folk musician, he was also a well-known actor. (Remember “Big Daddy” in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof?)  By 1975, he had also popularized traditional songs such as Big Rock Candy Mountain and Blue Tail Fly, served in the U.S. Army and Air Force, had his own radio show, been on a number of TV shows, won an Academy Award, written several books, and donated time to causes such as the Boy Scouts of America.

However, there was one more thing that he still longed to accomplish – a quest that he had begun long before.

Back in 1927, Ives became a DeMolay.  The Order of DeMolay (aka DeMolay International) was founded in 1919 by Shriner Frank S. Land.  Since the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine (aka Shriners) is an affiliate body of Freemasonry, the Order of DeMolay teaches Masonic ideals such as “filial love, reverence for sacred things, courtesy, comradeship, fidelity, cleanness, and patriotism.”

DeMolay International is a youth organization for boys from the ages of 12 through 21.  Ives was 18 at the time that he joined, and it wasn’t until he was in his 60s that he seriously committed to Freemasonry again.  According to Brother Julian Endsley, Ives’ father, brothers and sister had also been involved in Freemasonry.  In September 1975, Ives was made an Entered Apprentice (first-degree initiate).  From there, one becomes a Fellow Craft (second-degree student).  Ives attained the highest and third degree of

Master Mason in February 1976.  According to Wikipedia, these degrees “represent stages of personal development.”  Although Freemasonry has been called a religion and/or a secret society by some outside the group, these labels have been contested by Freemasons themselves.

According to Endsley - when Ives concluded the Third Degree, “he humbly became ‘one of the boys,’ a Master Mason, and proud of it.”  

Resources

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burl_Ives

http://srjarchives.tripod.com/1997-10/Endsley.htm     

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freemasonry

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shriners

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DeMolay_International

http://www.burlives.com/Masons.htm

Copyright June 14, 2011 by Linda Van Slyke   All Rights Reserved