Eurovision Song Contest 1959



The Eurovision Song Contest 1959 was the fourth edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It was held on Wednesday 11 March 1959 in Cannes, France, following the country's victory at the 1958 edition. The contest was won by the Netherlands with the song "Een beetje", performed by Teddy Scholten. This was their second and the first time a country had won the contest twice. Willy van Hemert was also the lyricist of "Net als toen", which won the Eurovision Song Contest 1957. Van Hemert was the first person to win the Eurovision Song Contest twice.

Location
The event took place in Cannes, France, with the venue being the original building of Palais des Festivals et des Congrès, after France got the right to host this edition of the Eurovision Song Contest for winning its previous 1958 edition with the song "Dors, mon amour" performed by André Claveau. Cannes, a city located on the French Riviera, is a busy tourist destination and known worldwide for hosting the annual Cannes Film Festival, with the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès also hosting the Film Festival. The original building was built in 1949 and was located on the boulevard of Promenade de la Croisette, on the present site of the JW Marriott Cannes.

Format
A new rule was created for this Eurovision, ensuring that no professional publishers or composers were allowed in the national juries. Italy gave one point to France, no points to the UK and seven points to the Netherlands placing them just three points ahead of the UK. Later on France gave only three points to Italy and four points to the Netherlands giving them a five-point lead over the UK, who were only one point ahead of France, leaving Italy behind in sixth position, behind Denmark, on nine points. Something that occurred this year, but never again, was that more than the winning entry was performed once again. The second and third placed songs, United Kingdom and France, were allowed to sing again at the end of the show, together with eventual winner, the Netherlands.

Participating countries
Luxembourg withdrew from the contest for the first time. The United Kingdom returned after missing the previous contest (appearing on the scoreboard as "Grande Bretagne") and finished second for the first time. The UK would have 15 second-place finishes in the country's history in the contest. Monaco made its debut in the contest, but came last.

Conductors
Each performance had a conductor who maestro the orchestra.
 * - Franck Pourcel
 * - Kai Mortensen
 * - William Galassini
 * - Franck Pourcel
 * - Dolf van der Linden
 * - Franck Pourcel
 * - Franck Pourcel
 * - Franck Pourcel
 * - Franck Pourcel
 * - Eric Robinson
 * - Francis Bay

Returning artists
The contest saw the return of two artists who had participated in previous editions of the contest. Birthe Wilke for Denmark (previous entry in 1957); and Domenico Modugno for Italy (previously entry in 1958).

International broadcasts and voting
The table above shows the order in which votes were cast during the 1959 contest along with the spokesperson who was responsible for announcing the votes for their respective country. Each national broadcaster also sent a commentator to the contest, in order to provide coverage of the contest in their own native language. Details of the commentators and the broadcasting station for which they represented are also included in the table below.

Voting and spokespersons

 * 1) 🇧🇪 Belgium - Bert Leysen
 * 2) 🇬🇧 United Kingdom - Pete Murray
 * 3) 🇦🇹 Austria - Karl Bruck
 * 4) 🇨🇭 Switzerland - Boris Acquadro
 * 5) 🇸🇪 Sweden - Roland Eiworth
 * 6) 🇩🇪 Germany - TBC
 * 7) 🇳🇱 Netherlands - Siebe van der Zee
 * 8) 🇲🇨 Monaco - TBC
 * 9) 🇮🇹 Italy - Enzo Tortora
 * 10) 🇩🇰 Denmark - Svend Pedersen
 * 11) 🇫🇷 France - Marianne Lecène

Commentators

 * 🇦🇹 Austria - Elena Gerhard (ORF)
 * 🇧🇪 Belgium - Nic Bal (NIR), Paule Herreman (INR)
 * 🇩🇰 Denmark - Sejr Volmer-Sørensen (DR TV)
 * 🇫🇷 France - Claude Darget (RTF)
 * 🇩🇪 Germany - Elena Gerhard (Deutsches Fernsehen)
 * 🇮🇹 Italy - Bianca Maria Piccinino (Programma Nazionale)
 * 🇱🇺 Luxembourg - Claude Darget (Télé-Luxembourg)


 * 🇲🇨 Monaco - Claude Darget (Télé Monte Carlo)
 * 🇳🇱 Netherlands - Piet te Nuyl (NTS)
 * 🇸🇪 Sweden - Jan Gabrielsson (Sveriges Radio-TV SR P1)
 * 🇨🇭 Switzerland - Theodor Haller (TV DRS), Claude Darget (TSR)
 * 🇬🇧 United Kingdom - Tom Sloan (BBC Television Service), Pete Murray (BBC Light Programme)