By: eurovisionunion
EuroRevision, , , , , , ,

EuroRevision: A Debut, A Returnee and A Withdrawal (1959)

After a French win the year prior, Eurovision was heading to France for its fourth edition. The contest took place in Cannes, France at the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès on Wednesday 11th of March. The host of the show was Jacqueline Joubert, and the conductor was Franck Pourcel.

A total of 11 countries competed, which at that point was the record number of competing nations. Monaco made their debut in the 1959 contest, while the United Kingdom returned. Unfortunately, we saw Luxembourg withdraw from the contest.

There weren’t too many new rules introduced to the 1959 contest, with the only change being made to the juries. The rule stipulated that no professional publishers or composers were allowed in the national juries. The juries consisted of 10 members per jury, and the juries distributed 10 points among their favourite songs.

Here is the full list of participants:

  • Austria
  • Belgium
  • Denmark
  • France
  • Germany
  • Italy
  • Monaco
  • Netherlands
  • Sweden
  • Switzerland
  • United Kingdom

From the participants list, we saw two returning artists. Birthe Wilke returned to represent Denmark (previously competing in 1957) and Domenico Modugno for Italy (previously competing in 1958).

The Netherlands scored their second Eurovision win with Teddy Scholten

Here are the competitors:

  • Jean Philippe – Oui, oui, oui, oui (France) đŸ‡«đŸ‡·
  • Birthe Wilke & Gustav Winckler – Skibet skal sejle i nat (Denmark) đŸ‡©đŸ‡°
  • Domenico Modugno – Piove (Ciao, ciao Bambina) (Italy) đŸ‡®đŸ‡¹
  • Jacques Pills – Mon ami Pierrot (Monaco) đŸ‡²đŸ‡¨
  • Teddy Scholten – Een Beetje (The Netherlands) đŸ‡³đŸ‡±
  • Alice & Ellen Kessler – Heute Abend Wollen wir tanzen geh’n (Germany) đŸ‡©đŸ‡ª
  • Brita Borg – Augustin (Sweden) đŸ‡¸đŸ‡ª
  • Christa Williams – Irgendwoher (Switzerland) đŸ‡¨đŸ‡­
  • Ferry Graf – Der K und K Kalypso aus Wien (Austria) đŸ‡¦đŸ‡¹
  • Pearl Carr & Teddy Johnson – Sing, Little Birdie (United Kingdom) đŸ‡¬đŸ‡§
  • Bob Benny – Hou toch van mij (Belgium) đŸ‡§đŸ‡ª

Winning the contest with a total of 21 points was The Netherlands! This marked the nation’s second win at Eurovision having previously won in 1957 with Corry Brokken. Coming in second place was the United Kingdom with 16 points, followed by France with 15 points. Finishing in last place was debut nation Monaco with just 1 point.

Watch the winning performance below: