ESC 1964

[Alan Smith]

Apologies if this subject has been aired on the board elsewhere. But as a collector of "Eurovision Song Contests" I've never come across a copy from 1964; and i've trawled all across Europe to no avail. If any of the wise and knowledglible people on the board know Why? 1964 doesn't seemingly exist please feel free to expound. A.S

[pete]

i have audio version of all the songs only on Real audio files (real player compatable)

[Rick W]

I believe the only telerecording of this show is held by Danish TV in Copenhagen, who keep it firmly under lock and key. They even make it difficult for other broadcasters to show clips, by charging prohibitively high rates for clips. So unless DRK have a change of policy, it'll probably never be seen again. Which is a real shame.

[Alan Smith]

Thanks! Rick at least a copy exists!

[Krystyna]

I remember that Gigliola Cinquetti from Italy won that year and one year when she was presenting Eurovision they showed a very brief clip of her from the 64 contest so it must exist.

[Alan Smith]

Dear Krystyna
Yes I have the show where the clip is shown when Italy hosted the show again. Amazingly No One right across Europe has a copy of the 1964 edition. Apart from the first show in 1956 which wasen't Televised (Which makes it a bit difficult to get a copy!!) All the rest exist in varying condition. AS

[Rick W]

I don't think 1956 was ever telerecorded. I've certainly never seen any clip of it, and you'd think the very first one would be a favourite for clips - if it existed (just like the very first TOTP would have been). However it does exist in full on audio.

[Pete Seaton]

this link should help

www.btinternet.com/~malcodd/eurovision/

[Alan Smith]

Many thanks Pete. No the first ESC 1956 was never televised. So absoloutly no footage could exist unless someone used a hand held film camera; i don't believe it had any real documentation either. Must admit 1964 is a mystery.

[Pete]

the first one was televised but it wasnt taped

but, there us an audio version from the contest that does survive, and i have that

but the scores are not included

though all we know is that somehow Lys Assia won !!!!!

[Thascales]

The scores were not announced at all. Just the winner - there were two jurors from each country I believe and they were present in Lugano for the contest. The votes were totaled and the winner, Lys Assia, announced. There are rumours about other positions but I don't think anyone knows the final results for sure.

Clearly as a Eurovision event, the 1956 contest must have been televised but wasn't recorded as far as anyone knows. BUT - there is a rumour that the BBC, although they did not take part, showed highlights from the programme the following Sunday, so perhaps they had recorded it when it was broadcast even thought they did not transmit it live.

[Alan Smith]

Thanks for the input folks! It is still a mystery to me as to why no other countries TV archives holds ESC 1964. Also has anyone noticed there doesen't seem to be a British copy of 1968 with English commentary! I've only come across Swedish ones!! ASM

[William Martin]

those super efficient sweeds again

[Rick W]

Here's some further info on ESC 1956, which was held on 24 May 56 - which was a Thursday! I've just checked Radio Times for that week, and can tell you that it was transmitted live by BBC TV at 9.45 pm. The BBC commentator in Lugano was Wilfrid Thomas, and according to RT, the UK was one of the organisers of the event (although we didn't actually enter the competition). It was not broadcast on the Light Programme (only on TV), and there was no TV repeat scheduled. So it's very unlikely the BBC would have gone to the expense of making a film recording.

Looking through RT for that period it's noticeable that most TV was transmitted live - very few programmes on film. The odd programme that was on film, was specifically noted in RT as 'A BBC telerecording' or 'A BBC film'. So very little in the way of repeats. Here's what RT had to say about ESC 1956:

"The first Eurovision International Song Competition has been organised by the national television service of Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. It has been specially devised and arranged for Eurovision and may become an annual event. Some of the European Television Services have held their own national song competitions recently and will be sending representatives to compete in the final at Lugano when the Grand Prix will be awarded."

[Thascales]

The UK were, of course, supposed to be taking part in the first Eurovision but their selection "The Festival of British Song" was made too late for inclusion.

The reason that the copies of Eurovision 68 in colour are only in Swedish is simple. Only Swedish television transmitted in colour. The BBC used colour BBC2 cameras for the broadcast BUT only transmitted it themselves in black and white. So, the copy of the contest that the BBC holds with their own commentary is inferior to the Swedish version that SVT holds. About 15 years ago, the Swedish copy was distributed around Europe and the BBC obtained their copy then. There was no point in transferring the BBC commentary from their black and white copy onto the Swedish one, so whenever clips are shown, it's with Swedish commentary.