History
The Royal Order of Jesters had its inception in the year 1911 during a pilgrimage of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine to the Hawaiian Islands. On the voyage over, sometime during the evening of February 20, a group of thirteen Nobles met in the captain's office aboard the S.S. Wihelmina and went over tentative plans for establishing the name "Royal Order of Jester’; with is birthplace in the jurisdiction of Aloha Court, Honolulu, the Mother Court of the Realm. Although there was no real initiation at the time, the meeting resulted in the banding together of the Nobles present as the nucleus of the Royal Order of Jesters.
On the return trip, the first interpretation of the “Book of the Play" was given by the original Royal Cast in mid-Pacific on Thursday, March 2, 1911. The "Play” was such a big hit, and interest in the secret performance was so intense that another performance was called for midnight of the same day. Again, at midnight on the following day, another class of nine amateurs presented themselves at the stage door and were admitted, On the last night of the voyage, at midnight on March 6, 1911, one last class was initiated. The last performance of the "Book of the Play" was every bit as successful as the previous ones. The journey ended the next day and the Mother Court adjourned to meet in Rochester, New York, the following July 14th at midnight.
Seven other Courts were later instituted. and on June 25, 1917, the National Court of the Royal Order of Jesters was formed at a meeting in St. Paul, Minnesota, with representative' s from each of the eight subordinate Courts. At this first annual meeting in 1918, a resolution was adopted assigning numbers to the first eight Courts in the order in which they were originally recognized. Thereafter the Courts were numbered consecutively according to the dates of their charters, and the number eighteen was assigned to the Court from Panama.
Application was originally made to form a subsidiary Court of the Royal Order of Jesters in the Panama Canal Zone on April 16, 1918. The petition was signed by Nobles Fred H. Stephens, Samuel H. Marcuse, Allen S. Boyd, H.H. Morehead. William L. Daniels, R. M. Davies, and T. L. Keeler. At the first annual council of the National Court of the Royal Order of Jesters, convened in Atlantic City on June 4, 1918, Samuel H. Marcuse was present as a representative of “Panama Canal Zone Court No.7-11". 1t was at this session that the Courts were numbered according to the dates of their charters and the 7-1 1 was duly changed to 18.
At the second annual meeting of the National Court, Panama Canal Zone Court No.18 was not represented, and at the third annual session held in Portland on June 20, 1920, Court No. 18 was reported as disbanded and the Royal Impresario advised that the Panama Court had returned its Ritual and Charter as the members did not think a Court could operate in Panama at that time on account of the feeling which existed about having a “chosen few’
A second charter was issued in 1921 after a petition was received from the following members of Abou Saad Temple: Gerald D. Bliss, Frank H. Wang, Samuel H. Marcuse, W. A Stevenson, Robert A. Ragsdale, Allen S. Boyd, Louis M. Grasley, and Richard G. Taylor. The proceedings of the fourth annual council of the National Court. held in Des Moines on June 12, 1921, include a supplementary report of the Committee on Dispensations and Charters which recommended approval of the charter and the assignment of the original number 18 to the Panama Court. The minutes of this session state that the original charter was returned voluntarily to the National Court when the local members found that "one of the parties connected with the original charter was unfortunate and not one of those into whose hands the Court would be desirous of presenting a charter’: Whatever the problem. The members of Abou Saad Temple and Panama Canal Zone Court No.18 were complimented for acting in good faith and in the best interests of the Royal Order of Jesters.
At the fifth annual session, which was held at San Francisco on June 11, 1922, the second charter issued to Panama Canal Zone Court No.18 was annulled. The Court had not functioned, and Gerald D. Bliss, who was present at the council meeting as a representative of Court No.18 explained that the situation in Panama was not favorable to the formation of a Court of a Royal Order of Jesters, Friction existed in the Temple and it was decided that it would not be proper to continue with the Court if it caused dissension in the other Masonic Bodies. Jester Bliss’s membership reverted to Rochester Court and the other members of Panama Canal Zone Court No.18 who came from other Courts reverted to the various Courts from which they came.
The third and final application for charter of Panama Canal Court No.18 charter was issued on March 17, 1927, and the charter is now in the safekeeping of our most trusted Impresario. The application for this charter reads “Original Charter dated January 24, 1921 - Revived as of March 17, 1927 - and Re-instituted May 13, 1927". This charter is signed by Ralph Osborn, Thomas M. Jordan, Lee W. Kelso, Donald B. lseley, Laurence C, Leighton, John J. Jackson, David F. De Castro, William M. James, Dennie F. Reeder, Ira M_ Ingram, Lewis B. Bates, James E. Jacob, and Newton A. Becker. The tenth annual council of the National Court was held on June 13, 1927, at Atlantic City, the site of the very first application for charter. At this session, the Royal Impresario reported that “Panama Canal Court No.18 had been revived and reinstituted" Having persevered and overcome almost all of its problems. The Court has survived and prospered since that date. The jurisdiction of Panama Canal Court No.18 is the same as that of Abou Saad Temple.