The Eurovision Song Contest 1959 was the fourth edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest, held on Wednesday 11 March 1959 at the in Cannes, France, and hosted by French television presenter Jacqueline Joubert. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster (RTF), the contest, originally known as the (E), was held in France following the country's victory at the with the song "", performed by André Claveau.
In total eleven countries participated in the contest, with making its first appearance and the returning after their absence the previous year. , however, decided not to participate after competing in all former editions.
The winner was the with the song "", performed by Teddy Scholten, composed by Dick Schallies and written by Willy van Hemert. This was the Netherlands' second victory in the contest, having also won in , and also marked the first time a country had won the contest more than once. Van Hemert also became the first individual to win twice, having also written the first Dutch winning song from 1957, "". The United Kingdom placed second, marking the first of a record sixteen times that the country would go on to finish as contest runners-up, while placed third.
Location
The event took place in Cannes, France, following the nation's victory at the in Hilversum, Netherlands, with the song "", performed by André Claveau. The selected venue was the , built in 1949 to host the Cannes Film Festival and located on the along the shore of the Mediterranean Sea. Due to the growth in the film festival a new building bearing the same name was opened in 1982, with the original building renamed as the .
A garden space with plants from Southern France was installed in front of the building for the contest, and the flags of the participating nations were raised on the roof. The audience comprised 1500 invited guests.
This marked the second occasion in which the previous year's winning country organised the event, and the first time in which the winning country was given first choice at hosting the following year's event, as the rights to host the 1958 contest were only awarded to the Netherlands after all other countries declined.
Participating countries
A total of eleven countries competed in the contest, with making its first appearance and the returning after a one year absence. The United Kingdom's absence from the 1958 contest is generally reported to have been due to the country's poor result in 1957, but their return coincided with the international success of "", the Italian entry from the previous year's contest, and the appointment of Eric Maschwitz as Head of Light Entertainment at the BBC. Beginning with this event the United Kingdom holds the record for the longest string of consecutive appearances in the Eurovision Song Contest, appearing in every subsequent contest final . was absent from the event, having participated in all previous contests, and appears to have decided against participating late in the preparations for the contest as the country was listed among the participants in several radio and television listings.
Among this year's participants, two artists had previously competed in the contest. Birthe Wilke had placed third for in the , performing "" alongside Gustav Winckler, and Domenico Modugno had placed third for in the with "".
Production
The contest was organised and broadcast by the French public broadcaster (RTF), with serving as director and Franck Pourcel serving as musical director. Each country was allowed to nominate their own musical director to lead the orchestra during the performance of their country's entry, with the host musical director also conducting for those countries which did not nominate their own conductor.
The stage constructed for the event was designed by Gérard Dubois. Its design was inspired by the era of Louis XIV. The stage featured three revolving platforms, each of which was segmented into four, similar to a revolving door, to include various backdrops. These backdrops were specific to each of the participating countries and featured scenery or objects associated with that country.
A few days prior to the contest, hotel and shop owners in Cannes complained that the contest was covered and advertised too sparsely by RTF and subsequently feared that too few tourists would come to Cannes. In contrast, the Cannes , which was involved in the organisation of the contest, believed that the broadcast of images from Cannes to many European households would have a significant impact on tourism in the weeks to follow.