DECLARATIONS, SERMONS AND SURREALISM

Some aspects of the art of performance writing seem to have begun or at least been established on the 11^th June. This appears to be the outcome of work done by a group of people being joined together in a common enterprise. Collaboration is certainly a key element in the delivery of the performance. As examples of this we have The Committee of Five, appointed in 1776, the Limelight Department established in 1892 and the International Surrealist Exhibition in 1936, all begun on the 11^th June. The propinquity between the Committee of Five and The International Surrealists is worth thinking about.

The Committee of Five of the Second Continental Congress drafted and presented to the Congress what became known as America's Declaration of Independence of 4^th July 1776. This Declaration committee operated from 11^th June 1776 until 5^th July 1776, the day on which the Declaration was published. This is one of the more remarkable pieces of performance writing.

Sherman, Franklin, Jefferson, Adams and Livingston.

The Committee of Five presenting their work to the Congress
on June 28, 1776. Painting by John Trumbull.

On 11^th June the members of the Committee of Five were appointed; they were: John Adams of Massachusetts, Roger Sherman of Connecticut, Robert Livingston of New York, Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania, and Thomas Jefferson of Virginia. Because the committee left no minutes, there is some uncertainty about how the drafting process proceeded—accounts written many years later by Jefferson and Adams, although frequently cited, are contradictory and not entirely reliable. What is certain is that the committee, after discussing the general outline that the document should follow, decided that Jefferson would write the first draft. Considering Congress's busy schedule, Jefferson probably had limited time for writing over the next seventeen days, and likely wrote the draft quickly. He then consulted the others, made some changes, and then produced another copy incorporating these alterations. The committee presented this copy to the Congress on 28^th June 1776. The title of the document was "A Declaration by the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress assembled."

Established officially on the 11^th June 1892, the Limelight Department was one of the world's first film studios, beginning in 1898, operated by The Salvation Army in Melbourne, Australia. 

The Salvation Army Limelight Department unofficially started in 1891, when Adjutant Joseph Perry started a photographic studio in Ballarat, Victoria, to supplement the income of the Salvation Army's Prison Gate Home. At the time, Perry was on compassionate leave from active ministry, as his wife Annie had died earlier that year, leaving Perry to raise their three children. In September 1891, Perry was temporarily reassigned to the Australasian Headquarters in Melbourne to assist Australasian commander, Commissioner Thomas Coombs, in putting together a presentation of General William Booth's In Darkest England program. At this stage, Perry was using lantern slides which projected hand coloured photographs onto a large screen. Coombs was impressed by the quality and effectiveness of presentation, making Perry's move to Melbourne permanent. The Limelight Department was officially established on 11^th June 1892. In 1896, when Commissioner Coombs was replaced as Australasian commander by General Booth’s youngest son, Commandant Herbert Booth. Herbert Henry Howard Booth was the third son of William and Catherine Booth. He oversaw the Limelight Department's development and he was the writer and director for Soldiers of the Cross.

The International Surrealist Exhibition was held from 11^th June to 4^th July 1936 at the New Burlington Galleries in London, England. Coincidentally, this exhibition took place exactly 160 yrs. after the meeting of the Committee of five.

The exhibition was organised by:

▪   Hugh Sykes Davies

▪   David Gascoyne

▪   Humphrey Jennings

▪   Rupert Lee

▪   Diana Brinton Lee

▪   Henry Moore

▪   Paul Nash

▪   Roland Penrose

▪   Herbert Read

▪   E. L. T. Mesens

The French organising committee were

▪   André Breton

▪   Paul Éluard

▪   Georges Hugnet

▪   Man Ray

The exhibition was opened in the presence of about two thousand people by André Breton. The average attendance for the whole of the Exhibition was about a thousand people per day.

During the course of the Exhibition, the following lectures were delivered to large audiences:

▪   June 16 — André Breton — Limites non Frontières du Surréalisme.

▪   June 19 — Herbert Read — Art and the Unconscious.

▪   June 24 — Paul Éluard — La Poésie Surréaliste.

▪   June 26 — Hugh Sykes Davies — Biology and Surrealism.

▪   July 1 — Salvador Dalí — Fantomes paranoiaques authentiques.

Dali's lecture was delivered whilst wearing a deep-sea diving suit. Nearly suffocating during the presentation, Dali had to be rescued by the young poet David Gascoyne, who arrived with a spanner to release him from the diving helmet.

This is well worth a look: