‘What’s the deal with Masonic Hall on Seinfeld?’

    

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Masonic Hall makes a cameo in an episode of Seinfeld from 1992–not that there’s anything wrong with that.

This is old news but, since I recently snapped the image above, here we are. I finally made the effort to capture the fleeting shot of Sixth Avenue in a manic scene in one of the defining episodes of one of the most hilarious television programs of the 1990s.

Titled “The Boyfriend,” this was the first two-part episode of Seinfeld, broadcast originally on February 12 and 19, 1992, the era of the show when its writing, acting, direction, and photography reached their apex, making the comedy the unique epochal document its admirers, like myself, remember today.

(Another episode, titled “The Outing,” broadcast February 11, 1993, upheld “the NYU paper” for ridicule. I had been News Editor of The Washington Square News until recently, making that Seinfeld story especially funny and memorable. I watched it that night with fellow WSN alums, giggling like idiots—not that there’s anything wrong with that.)

“The Boyfriend” is one of those stories that keeps the stars simmering one degree below insanity. Jerry befriends Mets great Keith Hernandez. Through Jerry, Hernandez meets and begins dating Elaine. George, unemployed again, tries to snaffle undeserved unemployment insurance benefits from his case worker. Kramer, with Newman, allege Hernandez had spit on them after a Mets loss to the Phillies five years previously.

Jerry stresses over how to interact with his new and famous friend, worried about his choice of shirt. Elaine dates the Mets legend, meeting at the old Fitzpatrick’s on the UES while he regales her with Game 6 excitement. Kramer and Newman unpack their spitting accusation, which leads to a devilish satire of Oliver Stone’s JFK, released two months earlier and still in theaters.

And then there’s George.

He attempts to con the state unemployment benefits system by claiming he recently had interviewed for a position at latex manufacturer Vandelay Industries, giving Jerry’s address and phone number for its contact info. After leaving his case worker, George maniacally races uptown to Jerry’s apartment to enlist his complicity in the fraud. In a cab heading up Sixth Avenue, he harries his driver with maddening backseat driving. The cabbie (Richard Assad), exasperated, pulls over and throws his fare out of the car.

This happens at the corner of Twenty-Third and Sixth, where stands Masonic Hall, plainly visible in the b-roll shot, as you see above.

In the end, George’s plot explodes in calculated madness, leaving him sprawled on Jerry’s floor, pants around his ankles, prompting Jerry to deliver a line said to have been improvised: “And you want to be my latex salesman?!”

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And that was only the first of the two episodes.

The neighborhood looks different today. That Icon Parking lot on the right is long gone. The 22-story luxury apartment building, annoyingly named The Caroline, was completed on the site in 2002.

Of the multitude of reasons why Masonic Hall is a legend amid the cityscape, I’d say its cameo in this Seinfeld episode ranks among the top 200.

     

‘Hermitix on Freemasonry’

    

It’s not possible to keep track of all the podcasts out there. Hermitix is not devoted to covering Freemasonry specifically, but inevitably it comes up. Its host—I guess the Hermit-in-Chief—James de Llis says it is “focusing on one-on-one interviews relating to fringe philosophy, obscure theory, weird lit, underappreciated thinkers and movements, and that which historically finds itself ‘outside’ the academic canon. The aim of the podcast is to allow autodidactic thinkers, amateur philosophers and the generally curious an insight into the work of thinkers who are often impenetrable to those outside of the academy.”

Cue Bro. John Michael Greer.

Author of multiple books on subjects from druidry and wicca to tarot and Golden Dawn, Greer is a repeat guest on the show, and was back last Thursday for more than an hour of fun chat about the Craft and Greer’s experiences. Enjoy.

     

‘Back in SRRS’

    

(With apologies to Dirk McQuickly of the Rutles.)

A tiny preview of this year’s Heredom
seen this week on social media.

Just because you’re not a Scottish Rite Mason doesn’t mean you cannot be part of the Scottish Rite Research Society. After an embarrassingly long absence from the SRRS, I rejoined yesterday, inspired by Chris Ruli’s visit to The ALR (see post below).

Looking forward to reading the scholarship this excellent group gathers and presents to us. Heredom Vol. 32 is due this fall. There’s also The Plumbline newsletter, in electronic form now from what I hear, plus the annual bonus book, which never disappointed me in the past.

SRRS

Click here to join or rejoin or renew.

     

‘Franco-American history at The ALR’

    

Our presenters last night at The American Lodge of Research were Bro. Chris Ruli and Bro. Erich Huhn, who discussed Lafayette and Tocqueville, based on both Frenchmen’s tours of the United States in the 1820s and ’30s.

The American Lodge of Research contributed to New York Freemasonry’s celebration of the Marquis de Lafayette last night by hosting Bro. Chris Ruli, author of Brother Lafayette.

Ruli published the book last summer, in time for the bicentenary of Lafayette’s farewell tour of the United States, having been invited by President (and Freemason) James Monroe and hosted jointly by the Masonic fraternity. Hailed as The Hero of Two Worlds, the young French officer played significant roles in the American Revolution. At age 66, he sailed to the United States and undertook a tour of all 24 states (albeit with only one step into Mississippi!) and the District of Columbia between August 1824 and September 1825, and was feted by civil, military, and Masonic authorities everywhere as “The Nation’s Guest.”

Bro. Lafayette’s portrait hangs
outside our lodge room.

Speaking to the lodge, Ruli retraced Lafayette’s travels and explained the tour’s significance to Freemasonry and how it should be understood in historical contexts, including the anti-Masonic movements of the nineteenth century. Lafayette visited a variety of locations here in New York State and was initiated into Royal Arch Masonry at Jerusalem Chapter and into Templary in Morton Commandery in New York City.

Before Chris took to the lectern, Bro. Erich Huhn, the Junior Deacon of the lodge, discussed another Frenchman’s historic ties to the United States: Alexis de Tocqueville. His tour of the country spanned through 1831 and 1832 and resulted in the landmark book Democracy in America.

Tocqueville, a historian and political philosopher, came to study the nature and habits of Americans, noting, among other things, how the citizens of the growing republic were self-reliant and enjoyed the practice of banding together in voluntary associations, a common reality completely different from life in Europe.

Huhn explained how Freemasonry’s teachings fit into Tocqueville’s observations, particularly the ways lodges of that period served as workshops in democratic practices.

The ALR’s next meeting will be Monday, June 30 at 7 p.m. inside the French Doric Room of Masonic Hall in Manhattan for our annual elections and installation of officers. Before then, though, we’ll get together for a festive board to commemorate a significant event in New York Masonic history. Details to come.