Eurovision 1961: 🌈 The secret Pride winner | Super-cut with animated scoreboard 

A few other things I couldn’t fit in the description: - A big thank you to those who’ve supported the channel on ko-fi/thereorderboard! Supporters there would have seen what I was up to a few weeks ago! I’ve uploaded this a little early as I know you’ve been waiting. Eurovision 2021 upset my schedule a little, having pushed out 1960 in a week and then I wanted to go and see some of my now double vaccinated family for the weekend. Posting on Tuesday will return, most likely on the 15th June next. Whilst I was away, we reached 1500 subs! - I had to do some reconstruction on this - the recordings available tend to be small, or very quiet. There are some sections that you might need to turn up, no audio manipulation was working! - I think Pourcel’s orchestra was immensely improved on 1959. Again andtheconductoris.eu has some great highlights of behind the scenes: - There was some trouble with Dutch speaking Belgian entrant: Bob Benny, who appears to advocate some bloc-voting: “Bob Benny won the Belgian selection programme, singing ‘September, gouden roos’, a solemn ballad composed by Hans Flower which seemed tailor-made for the impressive vocal range of the Antwerp singer. As two years previously, the Eurovision Song Contest was held in Cannes. The Belgian delegation travelled to Southern France per aeroplane. Bay: “On the plane, Bob wanted me to hold his hand as he was so scared. During our stay, I had to make sure he remained sober all the time. If he had had one whiskey, he would have been done for. From the first until the last minute, I stayed by his side to encourage him, but it turned into a new let-down for Bob, even though his entry wasn’t that bad. But then, we have always been stupid enough to vote for the Netherlands, while the Dutch never give us points in return. We’re too honest… and, to me, this is a typical Belgian trait.” - More Belgium from andtheconductoris.eu : Francis Bay [the conductor] felt humiliated. After a victory for France in 1960 with Jacqueline Boyer, the festival was won by a French artist for the second year running, although Jean-Claude Pascal competed on behalf of Luxembourg. Bay was annoyed about an emerging block of Francophone countries voting for each other’s songs. Immediately after the voting in Cannes, he suggested creating a Scandinavian-Dutch-Belgian block in retaliation in order to stand any chance of obtaining a satisfactory result: “We’ll have to form an alliance of our own.” - Germany from andtheconductoris.eu: For reasons unclear, Willy Berking did not accompany Andersen to Cannes for the international Eurovision final. What is known, though, is that the singer arrived in Cannes on the day of the broadcast and performed her song without having rehearsed at all. This West German entry, conducted by the French home conductor Franck Pourcel, finished near the bottom of the table. - Italy from andtheconductoris.eu: As the arranger of Betty Curtis’ version of ‘Al di là’ and the musical director of the 1961 Sanremo Festival, Gianfranco Intra was the natural choice to be the conductor of the Italian delegation in that year’s Eurovision Song Contest in Cannes, France. Intra remembers the rehearsals with Franck Pourcel’s orchestra in Cannes well: “After we had rehearsed my arrangement of ‘Al di là’ with the French orchestra and Betty Curtis, the first violinist invited the whole string section to hit the top of their music stands with their bows as a recognition for, what they thought, was a good and functional arrangement. It goes without saying that I took great pride in that.” - We have three new entrants! Spain extending our borders to the south, Yugoslavia to the south-east (and through the iron curtain) and Finland makes the Scandi bloc more of a Nordic one. I think all three had really good entries, that unfortunately straddled the mid-board area. - Spain: RTVE had joined the EBU in 1955 but I can’t find much on debuted in 1961. Obviously, Spain was under the rule of Franco and his authoritarian regime. The nature of the regime changed throughout it’s existence, initially embracing a lot of characteristics of the fascism defeated in 1945. Officially neutral in WW2, the regime continued and Spain was a bit of a pariah state - the tourism boom wouldn’t come until the 1970s. It’s obviously not something I want to talk a lot about, as I could get details wrong and I know there were many, many victims of his regime. RTVE’s involvement in the contest will cause issues for other EBU members as we go on. I have reverted to using Spain’s Civil Flag (without any emblem) and I want to reiterate that my videos from the early 80s use the Spanish transitional flag, not the Francoist one. I will be visiting some of those again, and I’ll replace it with the civil flag when I do. - Yugoslavia: We’ve covered the fall of Yugoslavia in the Contest quite extensively and JRT came to this, their first contest and returned another 26 times. I think they had the weaker of the new entries, but confidently held their own in the competition. Yugoslavia was of course behind Churchill’s Iron Curtain, but actually it was sort of in between. Tito (the leader) wasn’t going to be told what to do by Stalin and Yugoslavia happily straddled the divide in Europe…it had ruthless secret police, and rigged every election but often the country looked West rather than East. - Finland: Also sitting on the fence, Finland had a market economy (which didn’t largely nationalise like the UK) but was officially neutral in the Cold War. It had fought the Soviets in the Winter War of 39-40 which had exposed the weaknesses in the Soviet Union’s Red Army. Finland then found itself in a complex muddle, first fighting with the Germany Army against the Soviet’s and then against them. It was importantly neither in the Allied or Axis camps. They rejected US Marshall money, but also didn’t go all-in with Moscow either (remember they border Russia!). Secretly the Americans were supporting the ruling party and trade agreements with the West bolstered their economy, even though the Soviet’s had sway in Finnish domestic politics. All this didn’t matter in Cannes though, and Laila Kinnunen sung a great song. Finnish would struggle to persuade juries and televoters in the years to come though with 7 last place finishes in Finnish. Their highest non-winning placing of 6th (1973, 2021) were English songs as well as their convincing win in 2006! - Lale Anderson: Wow, what a contestant. A brief read of her story is remarkable. The song ‘Lili Marleen’ was transmitted from a German radio station set up in occupied Belgrade, but the signal was strong enough for it to be picked by Allied troops all over Europe. She was awarded a gold disc for 1 million sales by HMV in London, but not officially given it until after the war. After marrying and having 3 children, her marriage (to an impressionist painter) broke down. She left her children with her siblings and went to Berlin in 1929 (at about aged 24) and she eventually became successful in the cabaret scene in Berlin (joining the prestigious Kabarett der Komiker). Once her war time hit popped, Goebbels wasn’t a fan. She was banned from performing for 9 months, not just because of the song, but also her friendship with Rolf Liebermann and other Jewish artists. This moment of crisis for Lale reportedly led to a suicide attempt. Liebermann was in Switzerland for most of the war and was president of the jury for the inaugural Eurovision in Lugano. Lale’s Eurovision performance was really part of a comeback effort, having disappeared from the stage post 1945. Lale died in 1972 in Vienna, having married again and becoming Swiss. - I thought it was interesting that there were comms issues with London, meaning we didn’t have much in the way of an introduction to a few songs. Hastily though, the graphic dept in London put a slide saying ‘FROM SWEDEN’ up. The fact it’s in English and doesn’t appear on the NTS broadcast means it was someone’s job at the BBC to make that! With the quick ending too, it perhaps wasn’t the smoothest show from the BBC. Tom Sloan also got caught out when he didn’t realise there was an introduction to all the singers at the beginning saying it was ‘new’: Wogan-esque amnesia! - I think it’s worth keeping an eye on the battle between Italy and Switzerland. I didn’t see Switzerland finishing so high, and perhaps think Italy should have been up there. Denmark’s 8 points from Norway muddy the battle somewhat (the first I’ve noticed such obvious bloc voting?). I’m not sure about the UK, I agree with other writers that The Allisons both reflected current trends and attempted to please the Euro-jurors. Unfortunately, unbridled success wouldn’t come their way. ‘Are You Sure?’ was number 2 in Cannes, and number 2 in the UK charts…102 in the US! Their follow up song, ‘Words’ charted at 34…the next (also in 1961) didn’t chart at all. In 1963 they had disbanded. - Just mentioning that Luxembourg had had 2 last places before this win, I think still the quickest recovery? - Before the programme lost the BBC’s interest in the closing minutes, I think it’s clear Jacqueline Joubert knew that time was running out, she stopped referring to the state of the leader board and increasingly moved straight on to the next country. The prize giving and reprise were unsurprisingly rushed. - Tom Sloan, the BBC’s commentator had done 57 and 58 for the BBC too and became a very successful ‘Head of Light Entertainment’, really pushing that genre for television audiences in the UK…he was responsible for some famous comedy like Dad’s Army.

"Here are the votes of the Greek jury. Cyprus, 10 votes. This completes the votes of the Greek jury." -Greece, if they and Cyprus were competing in the cut-of-10 years.

Thank you for the excellent job as always. You made this iconic edition even more memorable. As an Italian, I still nowadays think that Al di là is a truly great song.

I watched a lot of the early contests during lockdown, and it was this contest which was the first (to me anyway) that felt like a Eurovision we know. First one held on a Saturday night, there was an interval act, we had lots more countries involved, with Spain, Finland etc now taking part and we’re now fully away from that feeling of Eurovision being a radio programme that just happens to be televised as well.

I really loved the part where she said "Ah, but it's Luxembourg that's leading now!!!"

1961 My birth year. I donot remember the winner very well from the radio. But I 've heard the song "Are you sure" many times after 1961 ❤ This song is my favorite from this contest. It must have been nerve wrecking for the 2 British singers or perhaps they were happy with their second place 😊😊

What a surprise! Didn’t expect this on a Saturday! Excellent :)

Another great work. Thanks for making history still alive. 😊

There’s a flaw in the actual 1961 scoreboard, one we’ll see a lot in the 1960s- the scoreboard is too big and long for the screen. We never actually saw the whole scoreboard in one shot, except at the very start of voting.

Thanks again thereorderboard! Another triumph on your part. I'm really enjoying watching these old contests again, and your videos bring out a new side to them. Thanks for the expansive sleeve notes as well! I'm content with the result this year. I'm not a great fan of the light music and cod-Jazz efforts so I appreciate Luxembourg and the UK for being more pop and Italy who are classy as always. The production doesn't break new ground, but it's nice enough. I'm not sure why the orchestra isn't playing over the opening shots. The pan through the auditorium with no music, clapping and many empty seats looks a bit awkward. The BBC's captions are welcome too!

Great job! Looking forward to see how you will present the mess in 63 and the 70s.

I like what you did with the scoreboard! The statues are really nice in the background, and I'm glad you brought back the font from 1959. I'm surprised at the mess-up with the voting in real time--if it impacted the winner, oh dear... As for 1961, again the production is stronger than the songs. I appreciate Joubert's appearance as a host, along with the artist introductions. There's a bit more diversity in terms of songs, however, thanks to the three debutants involved! My top five: 5. SWE 4. YUG 3. FIN -- I actually like the Finnish language here, along with the orchestration. Both Yugoslavia and Finland had solid debuts, but would later go on to have more interesting entries later on. (As for Spain, I was put off by how Conchita dressed as if she were performing a flamenco song, but it was actually a big band tune. Still pretty good, though) 2. ITA -- Al di la has the makings of a definite classic. It's very graceful and sweet, and Betty sings it quite well. 1. GBR -- But Are You Sure is charming and bubbly, and wouldn't get lost in the era. The Allisons' harmonies are very good, and make the song fly by in an instant! How would've the contest changed had this won?

- I’ve written far too much on this year already, but needless to say, 1961 was a busy year - all the Cold War themes of decolonisation and nuclear war. Most importantly though, the Iron Curtain became much more physical and concrete-y in Berlin and down the border between East and West Germany. People had been leaving the East for years, and finally the East German government had had enough. The August 1961 construction, which wouldn’t have been known about in Cannes in March, led to the deaths of 138 people (it was a surprise to Berlin residents). When it was first constructed 24-year-old Gunter Litfin was shot between the fences and bled to death for hours, as Chris West writes: ‘the West couldn’t rescue him, and the East didn’t want to’. More cheerily, JFK had been inaugurated in January and a new youth swept the White House. By October a small dispute over diplomatic passports escalated to the point where tanks were pointing at each other at Check Point Charlie in Berlin. JFK and Khrushchev spoke through an agent and the situation was diffused, but historians now see those days in Berlin, October 1961, as the closest East and West came to war. As West writes further, it was another sign of the impotence of the European nations that had, some 20 years earlier ruled over huge empires. Europe’s fate was in the hands of two outsiders.

OMG SO FUNNY I was just watching 1957 - 1960 back really waiting for 1961 I am now starting to watch this edition. Thank you so much haha

I really loved the Spanish, Dutch, Swedish, Swiss and Italian songs :) But the songs from Luxembourg and United Kingdom really did stand out.

Can‘t wait! I‘m enjoying these older ones

I watched the actual 1961 voting last night and it does seem feisty Jacqueline does emerge now and again during the voting. There’s a few points during the voting (when she’s in double image with the scoreboard) where she raises her hand to stop the audience applauding- and it seems to work! If you watch her during the Swedish voting, you can see her do it to stop the clapping after Switzerland received four points.

The Luxembourg song is talking about a gay romance, and I think that in that times people think about Romeo and Juliet or something like that hahahaha

My personal winner here is probably from 🇪🇸 Spain. Honourable mentions go to 🇸🇪 Sweden, 🇫🇷 France and 🇮🇹 Italy.

John Paul Maurice of France was the first ever Eurovision singer to die. There were no less than 3 winning songwriters from previous /future Eurovision's trying their hand again in this years contest. Also many of the songwriters made it to Eurovision multiple times including Joze Privsek of Yugoslavia who would reappear many years later as Slovenia's debut conductor. Sweden's Lil-babs was married at one point to Lasse Berghagen [Sweden 1975] and their daughter was once married to Tommy Nilsson [Sweden 1989]. The Allisons wanted to wear the casual clothes they wore in the UK heats but the BBC insisted on dinner suits. They rehearsed wearing white jackets but people backstage said they looked like waiters. Both the Allisons needed emergency medical treatment for overeating during their stay in Cannes, one with extreme stomach cramps and constipation the other from a chronic dose of the runs. We've lost 13 of the people who appeared at Cannes 1961. Ljiljana Petrovic of Yugoslavia was often confused with another Serbian singer called Ljiljana Petrovic -Buttler and indeed sometimes confused with LPB's mother also called LP and is often listed as so, even though she would have been 5 years old at the time she apparently gave birth. She was wrongly reported dead in 2010 when LPB died. LP herself died in 2020. Dors, Mon Amour from 1958 also was originally written about a same sex relationship. André Claveau had problems getting work for some years due to having had a relationship with a German Officer during the war.

Jacqueline is back! She’s far more warm and likeable this time around. It even shows in her dress as the very conservative, matronly dress from 1959 is replaced by bare arms and some fancy jewellery. The pointing stick is gone too, replaced by a notepad and pen.

With 1961 covered, we now say farewell (for the time being) to this voting system. The next contest in 1962 will see the first change to the Eurovision voting system since 1957.

Something I just noticed Bob Benny got song #11 both times Edit: the commentary actually cut out a blooper The conductor for the UK entry started while Jacqueline was still talking

Thank you for another great edition. The voting was actually quite exciting this year but the mistake with the UK vote on the scoreboard was a kick in the teeth. I didn't know about the winning song being about gay love so that makes one appreciate it. Overall it was a weak year songwise. Here is my top 5 but I only really like my no.1: 1. Finland (interesting to see that they briefly led early on) 2. Luxembourg 3. UK 4. Denmark 5. Spain

So many countries you wouldn’t expect to vote in French, voting in French. Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway...

May i correct your statement in the description box: So odd that the board operators and Sloan came to the same arithmetical conclusion that 11+7 = 22? I think the mistake happened way earlier. After the Belgian votes you hear the host say at 29:20 that the United Kingdom was leading with 15points. So someone must have a mistake going from 10 to 15 instead of 10 to 11. Even though it was wrong that the United Kingdom had 22 points after the Swiss vote, it did made sense that 15 + 7 resulted in 22. So as long as no one is noticing the mistake during the Belgian voting, you get wrong scores no matter how you count.

I’m watching the start of the vote and thinking how on Earth did the UK not win from there? Some heavy scoring early on for the UK, it seems.

Will the 1962 board be done in French or Luxembourgish? (the latter please?)

Not sure why French television felt it necessary to add an additional column with song numbers to the rightmost side of the (actual) 1961 scoreboard, especially when it was already on the leftmost side!

Les interprètes Francophones étaient bien présents durant cette année 1961 JEAN CLAUDE PASCAL pour le LUXEMBOURG JEAN PAUL MAURIC pour la FRANCE COLETTE DEREAL pour MONACO FRANCA DI RIENZO pour la SUISSE de plus ce sont des chanteurs et des chanteuses Français (es)

That was quite a mess-up with the Belgian vote and the U.K. score. Mistakes happen, but no one noticed this error for ages! I guess that this, and the events of 1963, explain why from 1964, an EBU scrutineer was present on stage. Jacqueline‘s reaction that Luxembourg was now leading was quite something!

Good to see Helena Bonham Carter turning out for the Swiss

you skipped the part that the winner from Luxembourg trying to put his hands on the host and she keeps getting them off until she tells him off. #metoo

Spain calling from Barcelona and not Madrid - would you know why that is?

Да не ужели это видео вышло ᕦ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)ᕤ

I wish you'd have shown the iconic moment when Jean-Claude Pascal hugs the presenter Jacqueline Joubert, and she takes off his hands - yet he insists on hugging her. It would certainly not have been passed so smoothly nowadays, when people realise women actually have the right to decide they don't want to be touched...

British. Chap not looking prat