Charles Phoenix’s Slide of the Week: Shriners Visit Grand Canyon, Arizona, 1957

Seven Shriners pose dressed alike before one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Their smart and sensible travel suits are perfectly color coordinated with the grandest canyon of them all.

And who knew those red felt fibers that fezzes are made of would absorb the glow of the morning sun with such warmth. It looks like the men are wearing emergency lights on their heads. But that’s OK because if one of them falls in and gets lost, that’s SO not a problem. A fez can be spotted from outer space. But until the rescue happens if the guy wants to go fishing in the river he can by easily knotting his handy tassel into fishing net. And that fancy diamond pin at the top of the tassel will double as a pocketknife. Not to mention the fact that he could send signals to planes with the crystal stones set on the front of the fez. And I bet a fez would hold water too. I never realized a fez was a survival tool. Did you?

But wait there’s more! More fezzes. Mr. Second-from-the-Left is wearing the rare fez print Hawaiian style shirt under his jacket. Apparently the man hanging onto to him really likes it. Body language speaks volumes.

I thought the Brady Bunch visiting the Grand Canyon was great but the Shiner bunch visiting the Grand Canyon is even better. I wonder if they rode the mule train down to the bottom.

Here’s to the grandest canyon of the all, the seven Shriners, the fez as a survival tool and YOU!

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