Eurovision Song Contest 1957

Eurovision Song Contest 1957
Dates
Final date 3 March 1957
Host
Venue Großer Sendesaal des hessischen Rundfunks
Frankfurt, West Germany
Presenter(s) Anaïd Iplicjian
Conductor Willy Berking
Host broadcaster HR/ARD
Interval act None
Participants
Number of entries 10
Debuting countries  Austria
 Denmark
 United Kingdom
Returning countries None
Withdrawing countries None
Vote
Voting system Each country had 10 jury members who each awarded 1 point to their favourite song
Nul points None
Winning song  Netherlands
"Net als toen"
Eurovision Song Contest
◄1956 1958►

The Eurovision Song Contest 1957 was the 2nd Eurovision Song Contest. Like the first contest, this one was still mainly a radio programme, but there was a noticeable increase in the number of people with televisions.

For some time, a rumour has existed that the German entry "Im Wartesaal zum großen Glück" by Walter Andreas Schwarz came second at the 1956 contest and that is why Germany hosted the Eurovision Song Contest 1957. In fact, the rule stating that the winning nation hosted the next year's Eurovision had not yet been conceived, and it was planned at the time that each participating country would take it in turns to host the event. However, as more countries wished to participate, this became impractical.

In this year's contest the Italian entry lasted for 5:09 minutes, whilst the UK's entry lasted for only 1:52 minutes. It was because of songs like the former that a rule was eventually introduced restricting each song to a maximum of 3 minutes; this rule still applies today.

Birthe Wilke and Gustav Winckler at the end of their song exchanged the longest kiss that has ever occurred in the contest — although, of course, only people with televisions could actually see it. This was due to a member of the production staff forgetting to give a pre-arranged sign that the kiss should end.

This was the first year where the juries were contacted by telephone. It was the first time the Netherlands won the contest.

Contents

Individual Entries

Results

Draw Country Language Artist Song English translation Place Points
01  Belgium Dutch Bobbejaan Schoepen "Straatdeuntje" Street tune 8 5
02  Luxembourg French Danièle Dupré "Amours mortes (tant de peine)" Dead love (so much sorrow) 4 8
03  United Kingdom English Patricia Bredin "All" - 7 6
04  Italy Italian Nunzio Gallo "Corde della mia chitarra" Strings of my guitar 6 7
05  Austria German Bob Martin "Wohin, kleines Pony?" Where to, little pony? 10 3
06  Netherlands Dutch Corry Brokken "Net als toen" Just like then 1 31
07  Germany German Margot Hielscher "Telefon, Telefon" Telephone, telephone 4 8
08  France French Paule Desjardins "La belle amour" Beautiful love 2 17
09  Denmark Danish Birthe Wilke & Gustav Winckler "Skibet skal sejle i nat" The ship will sail tonight 3 10
10  Switzerland French Lys Assia "L'enfant que j'étais" The child I was 8 5

Score sheet

Results
Belgium 5 2 2 1
Luxembourg 8 1 4 3
United Kingdom 6 1 1 1 1 2
Italy 7 1 1 2 2 1
Austria 3 2 1
Netherlands 31 5 3 1 1 6 1 4 3 7
Germany 8 1 1 6
France 17 2 4 2 1 6 2
Denmark 10 2 3 5
Switzerland 5 1 1 1 2

Returning artists

Artist Country Previous year(s)
Corry Brokken  Netherlands 1956
Lys Assia  Switzerland 1956 (winner)

Commentators

Spokespersons

References

  1. ^ "Nederlandse televisiecommentatoren bij het Eurovisie Songfestival" (in Dutch). Eurovision Artists. http://www.eurovisionartists.nl/index.htm?content/esf480.asp. 
  2. ^ http://songcontest.free.fr/bdd/cec1957.htm
  3. ^ Leif Thorsson. Melodifestivalen genom tiderna ["Melodifestivalen through time"] (2006), p. 10. Stockholm: Premium Publishing AB. ISBN 91-89136-29-2
  4. ^ http://eurovision.vosforums.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=5031&sid=59c531d817b9bad1f9fb9bf77dd4fcef