Special Report – 1963 and all that
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]
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 !!
Related articles
- Special report: ESC’s healing powers (joyeurovision.com)
- Special Report: Portugal at the Eurovision Song Contest 1975-1979 (joyeurovision.com)
- Special Report: Auntie’s quandary – UK in 2012 (joyeurovision.com)
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