# Old timey 'lodges' **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 6, 2012, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-timey-lodges/608623 "2012-01-06T14:49:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![C.Montgomery\_Burns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecd19e/32.png) [@C.Montgomery\_Burns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C.Montgomery_Burns)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2012, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-timey-lodges/608623/1 "2012-01-06T14:49:29Z")
In old movies, radio, and TV shows, they’re always showing men belonging to some kind of goofy “lodge”. You know what I mean- they have a silly name like “Loyal Order of the Blahblah”, wear goofy hats, have ridiculous greetings to each other, have a leader with a silly title like “Grand High Exalted Blahblah”, and don’t seem to do anything but smoke cigars and drink. Did these things actually exist? If so, are any of them still around? If not, what happened to them? ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2012, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-timey-lodges/608623/2 "2012-01-06T14:53:34Z")
I always thought they were spoofing clubs like: Shriners Kiwanis Lions Masons Etc. ---
**Author:** ![coremelt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@coremelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coremelt)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2012, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-timey-lodges/608623/3 "2012-01-06T15:01:36Z")
Theres a real “loyal order of the moose” and they claim to have 800,000 members. [http://www.mooseintl.org/public/Area/LOOM.asp](http://www.mooseintl.org/public/Area/LOOM.asp) and theres also the “Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks”. List here of many more > **[List of general fraternities](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_general_fraternities)** > > A fraternity or fraternal organization is an organized society of men associated together in an environment of companionship and brotherhood; dedicated to the intellectual, physical, and social development of its members. Service clubs, lineage societies, and secret societies are among the fraternal organizations listed here. College fraternities and sororities appear in the List of social fraternities and sororities. > These are fraternal organizations that operate internationally. > Fraternities ... In London you’ve got the Livery companies like the “worshipful company of drapers”. ---
**Author:** ![Lukeinva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lukeinva/32/17872_2.png) [@Lukeinva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lukeinva)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2012, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-timey-lodges/608623/4 "2012-01-06T15:05:00Z")
Down the road a bit in the city of Fairfax Virginia is an honest to goodness [Elk’s Lodge.](http://www.bpoe2188.org/dotnetnuke/) Looks like they have dances and dinners and bingo night. (Have no idea what BPO stands for tho.) ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2012, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-timey-lodges/608623/5 "2012-01-06T15:13:33Z")
[Odd Fellows](http://www.ioof.org/). Great great grandpa Mercotan was a member ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2012, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-timey-lodges/608623/6 "2012-01-06T15:14:24Z")
Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks Clubs often have killer dinners. I’ve been to a couple and was pleasantly surprised. ---
**Author:** ![h.sapiens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e0b2c6/32.png) [@h.sapiens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/h.sapiens)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2012, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-timey-lodges/608623/7 "2012-01-06T15:16:19Z")
My dad used to belong to the Moose. As far as I know, there were no weird handshakes, but I think my dad had a fez or some other kind of odd hat (that I never saw him wear, although he was a “hat person”). They still run a boarding school/group home called [Mooseheart](http://www.mooseheart.org/) in the far western suburbs of Chicago. When I was a kid, they had Halloween parties, summer picnics and monthly spaghetti dinners for the families of members. ---
**Author:** ![Lukeinva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lukeinva/32/17872_2.png) [@Lukeinva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lukeinva)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2012, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-timey-lodges/608623/8 "2012-01-06T15:27:20Z")
**Silenus** - thanks for the BPO. I’ve been to that Elk’s lodge several times for a collector’s convention. The thing that amused me is the special parking for Elk of the Month - right in the front row. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2012, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-timey-lodges/608623/9 "2012-01-06T16:20:39Z")
Fred Flintstone famously belonged to the Water Buffalo lodge. Was he ever elected Grand Pooh-Bah? The Metrorail in Northern Virginia passes the headquarters of the Association of Old Crows. I always thought they were a lodge like the Elks, but it turns out they’re a badass trade association for electronic warfare. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2012, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-timey-lodges/608623/10 "2012-01-06T16:31:50Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > Fred Flintstone famously belonged to the Water Buffalo lodge. Was he ever elected Grand Pooh-Bah? I originally though that Grand Pooh-bah was only used in the Honeymooners Raccoon Loge, but see that it must have been [spoofed by a lot of shows](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BrotherhoodOfFunnyHats) related to the fifties. More on the origins of [Grand Poohbah](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Poobah). ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2012, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-timey-lodges/608623/11 "2012-01-06T16:46:30Z")
Never mind the TV and cartoon parodies of those real-life fraternal lodges. There is even a real-life parody lodge of those real-life lodges: **E Clampus Vitus** Wikipedia article: [E Clampus Vitus - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E_Clampus_Vitus) ECV web site: [http://www.eclampusvitus.com/](http://www.eclampusvitus.com/) Lodge dedicated to drunken revelry and preserving historical sites of dubious legacy. Yes, they really do place plaques on sites of historical interest that more serious historical preservation societies might overlook, like old California Gold Rush era whorehouses and such. Officers have eloquent and splendiferous titles like Noble Grand Humbug and Grand Buffoon and Grand Imperturbable Hangman. Quote from the Wikipedia article: > [@](#): > > Despite the humor and rowdiness of E Clampus Vitus, the members do take their brotherhood seriously. When a member became sick or injured, the group would collect food or money to help him. They frequently trekked through the vastness of the Sierra Nevada to reach lonely miners who otherwise would have had no Christmas celebration. The society was also careful to assist the widows and orphans of fallen members. Also, you could always become a [Turtle](http://orderofturtles.tripod.com/). ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2012, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-timey-lodges/608623/12 "2012-01-06T17:09:03Z")
[Earlier thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=547516) ---
**Author:** ![Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hypnagogic_jerk/32/4252_2.png) [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypnagogic_Jerk)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2012, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-timey-lodges/608623/13 "2012-01-06T17:24:58Z")
> [@Si\_Amigo](#): > > More on the origins of [Grand Poohbah](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Poobah). Huh, I would have thought that the term Grand Poobah was supposed to sound like some sort of faux Arabic, and intended to mock the vaguely Arabic flavour the Masons seem to have adopted at some point. But I see no mention of this in your source. ---
**Author:** ![MikeS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MikeS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeS)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2012, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-timey-lodges/608623/14 "2012-01-06T17:34:12Z")
> [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](#): > > Huh, I would have thought that the term Grand Poobah was supposed to sound like some sort of faux Arabic, and intended to mock the vaguely Arabic flavour the Masons seem to have adopted at some point. But I see no mention of this in your source. No, it’s honest-to-goodness old-fashioned ill-informed Orientalism, rather than mockery of old-fashioned ill-informed Orientalism. ---
**Author:** ![Cartoonacy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/848f3c/32.png) [@Cartoonacy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartoonacy)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2012, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-timey-lodges/608623/15 "2012-01-06T18:15:08Z")
> [@h.sapiens](#): > > My dad used to belong to the Moose. As far as I know, there were no weird handshakes, but I think my dad had a fez or some other kind of odd hat (that I never saw him wear, although he was a “hat person”). They still run a boarding school/group home called [Mooseheart](http://www.mooseheart.org/) in the far western suburbs of Chicago. > > When I was a kid, they had Halloween parties, summer picnics and monthly spaghetti dinners for the families of members. My dad was a Moose, too, back in the '60s. I don’t remember any hats, but I do recall the parties. They had a lodge with a bar and jukebox where members _and_ their wives would hang out and socialize. Apparently they also brought their kids on occasion; otherwise, I wouldn’t be remembering it at all. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2012, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-timey-lodges/608623/16 "2012-01-06T18:17:55Z")
> [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](#): > > Huh, I would have thought that the term Grand Poobah was supposed to sound like some sort of faux Arabic, and intended to mock the vaguely Arabic flavour the Masons seem to have adopted at some point. But I see no mention of this in your source. It’s actually the Shriners who adopted the Arabic thing - the regular Blue Lodge Masons never did any of that stuff. All Shriners are Masons, but many of them are not very active in the Blue Lodge. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2012, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-timey-lodges/608623/17 "2012-01-06T18:34:38Z")
My wifes ancestors were into all that kind of stuff - Woodmen of the World, Knights of Damn Near Anything, and some orphans charity that used a goat as its symbol. I got a bad feeling the truth of many of these organizations was stranger than the fiction but they served their purpose at the time of building a sense of community and serve as local charities/local needs. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2012, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-timey-lodges/608623/18 "2012-01-06T18:41:12Z")
Not one of the amusing names, but the Freemasons are certainly still around, as well as the Shriners and the Scottish Rite and the York Rite and all that. The Shriners’ hospitals help sick kids and don’t charge anything. Nothing at all. They don’t even have a payment window, from what I hear. They even have volunteers who transport kids to the hospitals. So yes, they have silly cars and ridiculous aprons and it’s really funny how it becomes normal to tell people “Oh, this is JR, he’s the Worshipful Master at my dad’s lodge”, but they do serious good work in the world. ---
**Author:** ![Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hypnagogic_jerk/32/4252_2.png) [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypnagogic_Jerk)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2012, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-timey-lodges/608623/19 "2012-01-06T18:54:41Z")
> [@Argent\_Towers](#): > > It’s actually the Shriners who adopted the Arabic thing - the regular Blue Lodge Masons never did any of that stuff. Ah, fair enough then. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2012, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-timey-lodges/608623/20 "2012-01-06T19:03:53Z")
I am a member of the Moose Lodge, but I haven’t been active since I moved. We had a very active lodge, and did a lot community service events. I was the scholarship chairman, and we raised $6,000 per year for local high school seniors. We organized holiday dinners at the senior center, and the annual bicycle safety rodeo for the kids. There was always something to volunteer for. And we had a lot of fun doing it, too. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-timey-lodges/608623.md?page=2)