JOY Eurovision

3 May 2012

Special Report – 1963 and all that

Eurovision History Chats, Reports

It is almost half a century ago, but the 1963 Eurovision Song Contest remains a high water mark in the history of the event.

It is right up there with the highest level of television production from the 1960s – an era when the medium was finding its own kind of music.

This was television as television, pure and not so simple.

In fact it was very complex.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJpkWhcraT4]

Hikki & AJ dusted off the archives to discuss this remarkable telecast.  Watching the clips in synch with the yada yada may help !

So why was 1963 such a big deal ?

The director, Yvonne Littlewood,  grabbed the many opportunities offered by the almost completed BBC Television Centre at White City (venue of the 1908 Olympics) to show off a) the Beeb & b) the medium.

It was the one and only time the ESC singers performed primarily for the camera & the viewers.

The live audience, scoreboard and compère were in one studio, while the business end of the night was conducted in an adjacent studio.

The result is a Eurovision where the direction and staging were unique for each song – and some of the results were remarkable.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0R8eDsgVAy0]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gn8GMilGDZw]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XA_SIOCX-l0]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUxdyl2rE7I]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j19HXn0-iGc]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYyhJvRE3mQ&feature=related]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2W-eSN-eh6A]

There’s so much to enjoy and wonder at.

And then there’s the thing most people recall about 63 – the voting kerfuffle.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Okqib9vP7gE]

FYI Studio 4 was the performance studio, Studio 5 housed the audience and Studio 6 the interval act.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IooPAHpqXiQ]

This blogpost and the History Chat is dedicated to Ola & Barbro !!

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