The first Eurovision Song Contest was a success, or at least enough of a success to continue the contest in the following year. The second edition of the contest was held in Frankfurt-am-Main in West Germany at the Großer Sendesaal des hessischen Rundfunks. The contest was hosted by German actress, Anaid Iplicjian. The conductor for the show was Willy Berking, and the Executive Supervisor of the show was Rolf Liebermann.
As we know with Eurovision today, it is common practice that the winning nation receives the opportunity to host the contest the following year. This guideline had not yet been introduced, as it was still early days of the contest, however it was rumoured that the 1957 contest was given to Germany to host as they had allegedly come second the previous year. As we explained in our previous EuroRevision post all about 1956, the full results were never released. It was planned at the time that the participating nations would take turns to host, but as the contest and the participants list grew, this became impractical.
Like the previous edition, the contest was geared more towards radio listeners, however the number of people with televisions had increased. This edition of the contest featured a total of 10 nations, and unlike the previous year, each nation was represented by one song only. None of the ‘original’ nations had withdrawn from the contest, and the additions to the line-up were Austria, Denmark and the United Kingdom.
Here is the full list of participants:
- Austria
- Belgium
- Denmark
- France
- Germany
- Italy
- Luxembourg
- Netherlands
- Switzerland
- United Kingdom
Another rule that had not been introduced yet was the 3 minute rule for the participating entries. The Italian song lasted a lengthy 5:09 minutes, while the UK entry lasted only 1:52 minutes. It was because of this that the three minute rule was then introduced, a rule that still applies!
There were a couple of other changes from the previous contest, including removing the limit on solo acts. Although groups were not yet allowed, duos were allowed at the contest. The juries were also not allowed to vote for their own entries in 1957, and as you will know, this rule also still applies at the modern day contest.
There were two returning artists to the contest, Corry Brokken from the Netherlands, and Lys Assia from Switzerland, who had won the contest in 1956.
Here is the full list of competitors:
- Bobbejaan Schoepen – Straatdeuntje (Belgium) 🇧🇪
- Danièle Dupré – Amours Mortes (tant de peine) (Luxembourg) 🇱🇺
- Patricia Bredin – All (United Kingdom) 🇬🇧
- Nunzio Gallo – Corde della mia Chitarra (Italy) 🇮🇹
- Bob Martin – Wohin, Kleines Pony? (Austria) 🇦🇹
- Corry Brokken – Net als toen (The Netherlands) 🇳🇱
- Margot Hielscher – Telefon, telefon (Germany) 🇩🇪
- Paule Desjardins – La belle Amour (France) 🇫🇷
- Birthe Wilke & Gustav Winckler – Skibet skal sejle i nat (Denmark) 🇩🇰
- Lys Assia – L’enfant que j’étais (Switzerland) 🇨🇭
The full results of the contest were released, and the winner of the 1957 contest was Corry Brokken, who represented The Netherlands with the song Net Als Toen. The song won with 31 points, which was considerably more points than France, who came second with 17 points. Watch the winning performance below: