There has been a lot of buzz about the video below on the interwebz.
You could probably say its a Public Service Announcement from the past as Ben Franklin (as played by Richard Easton) gives an inspirational message on the teachings, philosophy, and meaning of Masonry.
https://youtu.be/ncmLCYujJ2M
Give it a watch if you haven’t already.
Interestingly, the video is billed as coming from the Grand Lodge Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of Portugal (GLNP) at www.glnp.pt (archive page), not a Grand Lodge you would automatically connect with Franklin.
Update- A recent Comment points the video back to the GL of Massachusetts which makes much more sense, but a quick walk through on their site dind’t turn up any mention of it?
Unrelated to the video, I found a quote from the U.S. Embasy in Portugal about their academic a summer institute on the seemingly important signifigence of the unmistakenly American statesman and the comparatively ancient nation of Portugal (its name derrives from the Roman name Portus Cale (Port of Cale) saying :
The initiative (not the video) is named after the legendary American statesman and diplomat Benjamin Franklin in honor of the inspiration his own life and career provides to those who are working to strengthen transatlantic cooperation. In today’s terms, Franklin could be called a transatlantic man, someone whose career, interests, studies and life took him back and forth across the Atlantic Ocean, bringing Americans and Europeans closer in understanding. Even 300 years after his birth, Franklin’s life offers inspiration to young citizens of today in the effort to bridge the Atlantic. As a diplomat and a printer, he leveraged the powers of diplomacy and of the media to explore how Americans and Europeans see each other and the world.
And now it seems as a Freemason, he’s spanning the Antlantic once more in engaging the American fraternity.
Hi Greg!
The Grand Lodge of Portugal reposted the video. It was originally on Youtube (along with 2 companion videos) posted by the GL of Massachusetts I believe. They took it down (reasons unknown). I hope this helps.
Jack, definitely good to know, I’ll add that to the original post. Its strange though, the YouTube video has the GLNP in the credits at the beginning, so I wonder if there was some clever appropriation going on?
Also as far as I can tell, they originally appeared on the website askafreemason.org, created by the GL of Massachusetts, (as per the copyright info on the site).
You can still locate some of the earlier created videos there.
they were posted on Youtube and subsequently removed, unsure of the reasons and then reposted by someone from the GLNP and it seems added to them.
The original video put up by the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts is still available on YouTube… its just been made so that you can only see it if you have the link. Here it is
It is also on the AskAFreemason.org website at: http://www.askafreemason.org/benchats/index.htm
Looks like it was then indeed re-appropriated. Thanks for the tip.
I seem to recall hearing that another Grand Lodge had licensed or otherwise gotten permission to use the Massachusetts spots. (Indiana, maybe?) Maybe something similar happened with Portugal.
These spots have been run in Massachusetts over the last few years, particularly in the weeks right before our state-wide open houses. There are radio segments that get played as well, also featuring Easton-as-Franklin. They have definitely helped bring a lot of new members in the Fraternity who were interested but had no idea how to go about joining. Over the last year or so my impression is that the focus is correctly shifting from bringing in new members to keeping the members we bring in, so I’m not sure if they’re running these spots as frequently or as widely as in the last few years.