ESC in the '50s

Eurovision Song Contest in the '50s

Eurovision Song Contest 1956 - Lugano, Switzerland

The first Eurovision Song Contest was held in the Teatro Kursaal in Lugano, Switzerland on Thursday 24th May 1956. The idea behind the contest was to unite the televisual corners of Europe through the medium of song. There were 10 countries wanting to take part but only 7 actually entered - the remaining 3 countries all entered the following year. With 7 countries taking part all were asked to send 2 songs for the judges. Each nation was also to supply 2 judges to judge the songs. Luxembourg could not send judges so used 2 Swiss judges instead. The full results were never made known for the 1956 contest. Only the winner was ever revealed, although there was rumour that Lys Assia remembers that one of the German entries finished 2nd.
Nr. crt. Country Song Artist
1 The Netherlands De Vogels Van Holland Jetty Paerl
2 Switzerland Das Alte Karusel Lys Assia
3 Belgium Messieurs les noyés de la Seine Fud Leclerc
4 Germany Im Wartesaal zum grossen Glück Walter Andreas Schwarz
5 France Le temps perdu Mathé Altéry
6 Luxembourg Ne crois pas Michèle Arnaud
7 Italy Aprite le finestre Franca Raimondi
8 The Netherlands Voorgoed Voorbij Corry Brokken
9 Switzerland

Refrain

 Lys Assia
10 Belgium Le plus beau jour de ma vie Mony Marc
11 Germany So geht das jede Nacht Freddy Quinn
12 France Il est là Dany Dauberson
13 Luxembourg Les amants de minuit Michèle Arnaud
14 Italy Amami se vuoi Tonina Torielli

Nr. crt. = Songs in performance order

Eurovision Song Contest 1957 - Frankfurt Am Main, Germany

The second contest saw the remaining founding countries entering for the first time, taking the total number of participants to 10. Voting was made public for the first time with each country having a jury of 10 members each giving a point to their favourite entry without voting for their own country. The shortest ever ESC performance was in 1957 when Patricia Bredin sang the first United Kingdom entry for a measly 1 minute 52 seconds. She was followed on stage by the longest ever ESC performance when Nunzio Gallo spent over 5 minutes performing the Italian entry.

Results Country Song Artist
1. (6) / 31 points the Netherlands Net Als Toen Corry Brokken
2. (8) / 17 points France La belle amour Paule Desjardins
3. (9) / 10 points Denmark Skibet skal sejle i nat Birthe Wilke & Gustav Winckler
4. (7) / 08 points Germany Telefon, Telefon Margot Hielscher
_. (2) / 08 points Luxembourg Tant de peine Danièle Dupré
6. (4) 07 points Italy Corde della mia chitarra Nunzio Gallo
7. (3) 06 points United Kingdom All Patricia Bredin
8. (1) 05 points Belgium Straatdeuntje Bobbejaan Schoepen
_. (10) 5 points Switzerland L'enfant que j'étais Lys Assia
10. (5) 03 points Austria Wohin, kleines Pony Bob Martin

Results = Position (brackets is the position they sung) / points

Eurovision Song Contest 1958, Hilvershum, Netherlands

The 3rd Eurovision Song Contest was the first one to be held by the winning nation from the previous year. It was also the 2nd and last contest without a song sung in English with the United Kingdom not taking part. The most famous and successful ESC entry ever came 3rd in the 1958 contest. Better known as Volare the Italian entry became a huge Worldwide hit and won the inaugural Grammy for "Best Song". The Eurovision juries thought differently.

RESULTS

1.(3) 27 points France - Dors, mon amour - André Claveau
2.(10) 24 points Switzerland - Giorgio - Lys Assia
3.(1) 13 points Italy - Nel blu dipinto di blu (Volare) - Domenico Modugno
4.(5) 10 points Sweden - Lilla stjärna - Alice Babs
5.(7) 08 points Belgium - Ma petite chatte - Fud Leclerc
(9) 08 points Austria - Die ganze Welt braucht Liebe - Liane Augustin
7.(8 ) 05 points Germany - Für zwei Groschen Musik - Margot Hielscher
8.(6) 03 points Denmark - Jeg rev et blad ud af min dagbog - Raquel Rastenni
9.(2) 01 point Netherlands - Heel de Wereld - Corry Brokken
(4) 01 point Luxembourg - Un grand amour - Solange Berry

Eurovision Song Contest 1959, Cannes, France

France played host for the first time in the last contest of the 1950s. The United Kingdom returned after a one year break, but Luxembourg missed the contest. Monaco made a disastrous debut finishing last. Again the biggest hit from the contest was not the winning entry and came from the same source as the previous year. Domenico Modugno returned for Italy singing Piove which went on to be a huge international hit under the name "Ciao, Ciao Bambina".

RESULTS

1.(5) 21 points - Netherlands - Een Beetje - Teddy Scholten
2.(10) 16 points - United Kingdom - Sing Little Birdie - Pearl Carr & Teddy Johnson
3.(1) 15 points - France - Oui, Oui, Oui, Oui - Jean Philippe
4.(8 ) 14 points - Switzerland - Irgendwoher - Christa Williams
5.(2) 12 points - Denmark - Uh, jeg ville ønske, jeg var dig - Birthe Wilke
6.(3) 09 points - Italy - Piove (Ciao, Ciao Bambina) - Domenico Modugno
(11) 09 points - Belgium - Hou toch van mij - Bob Benny
8.(6) 05 points - Germany - Heute Abend wollen wir tanzen geh'n - Alice & Ellen Kessler
9.(7) 04 points - Sweden - Augustin - Brita Borg
(9) 04 points - Austria - Der K und K Kalypso aus Wien - Ferry Graf
11.(4) 01 point - Monaco - Mon ami pierrot - Jacques Pils