The Eurovision Song Contest 1956 was the first Eurovision. This first contest was mainly a radio program, though there were cameras in the studio for the benefit of the few Europeans who had television. The backdrops behind the singers were, perhaps understandably, not very lavish.

It had been strongly recommended that each participating country have a preliminary national song contest. Austria, Denmark and the United Kingdom were disqualified from the final contest, however, as all of them registered after the official deadline. The BBC's Festival of British Popular Song, which had been intended to choose the United Kingdom entry, was in the end not held until after the Eurovision contest.

All participating countries sent two jury members to Lugano, except for Luxembourg who allowed the Swiss jury to vote on their behalf.

No video recording of the event is known to have survived, although an audio recording does exist.

Controversy

The voting system at this Contest allowed juries to vote for any competing song, including those of their own country. This is a system which was not repeated, and is believed by some to be the reason for Assia's win.

Additionally, the Swiss jury was allowed to vote on behalf of the Luxembourg delegation, again something which has not been repeated in Contest history. This has also led to some allegations that these proxy votes may have tipped the result in Assia's favour.

The scores for this Contest have never been made public, which has also led to a number of rumours about other placings. Assia's other entry was never released commercially, which has caused suggestions that it placed very low. Other suggestions include a possible second place for Germany's Walter Andreas Schwarz (or Freddy Quinn, in some versions of the rumour), thus justifying Germany hosting the second Contest, and a possible third place for one of the Belgian entries.

No video of this contest is known to survive, however there is an audio recording that does exist.
There's a video of the winning performance of the song, the only thing that survived from that contest!

Interval act

The interval act was whistling by the Joyeux Rossignols, it had to be extended due to a delay in the voting procedure.

Results

Country (Language)	Artist	Song (Translation)	Place	Points
20px Netherlands (Dutch)	Jetty Paerl	http://www.diggiloo.net/?1956nl1 De Vogels Van Holland (The Birds of Holland)	n/k	-
20px Switzerland (German)	Lys Assia	http://www.diggiloo.net/?1956ch1 Das Alte Karussell (The Old Carousel)	n/k	-
20px Belgium (French)	Fud Leclerc	http://www.diggiloo.net/?1956be1 Messieurs les Noyés de la Seine] (The Drowned Gentlemen of the Seine)	n/k	-
20px Germany (German)	Walter Andreas Schwarz	http://www.diggiloo.net/?1956de1 Im Wartesaal Zum Großen Glück (The Good Luck Waiting Room)	n/k	-
20px France (French)	Mathé Altéry	http://www.diggiloo.net/?1956fr1 Le Temps Perdu (The Lost Time)	n/k	-
20px Luxembourg (French)	Michèle Arnaud	http://www.diggiloo.net/?1956lu1 Ne Crois Pas] (Do Not Believe)	n/k	-
20px Italy (Italian)	Franca Raimondi	http://www.diggiloo.net/?1956it1 Aprite Le Finestre (Open the Windows)	n/k	-
20px Netherlands (Dutch)	Corry Brokken	http://www.diggiloo.net/?1956nl2 Voorgoed Voorbij (Over Forever)	n/k	-
20px Switzerland (French)	Lys Assia	http://www.diggiloo.net/?1956ch2 Refrain (Refrain)	1	-
20px Belgium (French)	Mony Marc	http://www.diggiloo.net/?1956be2 Le Plus Beau Jour De Ma Vie (The Most Beautiful Day of my Life)	n/k	-
20px Germany (German)	Freddy Quinn	http://www.diggiloo.net/?1956de2 So Geht Das Jede Nacht (That's how it is Every Night)	n/k	-
20px France (French)	Dany Dauberson	http://www.diggiloo.net/?1956fr2 Il Est Là (He is Here)	n/k	-
20px Luxembourg (French)	Michèle Arnaud	http://www.diggiloo.net/?1956lu2 Les Amants De Minuit (The Lovers of Midnight)	n/k	-
20px Italy (Italian)	Tonina Torrielli	http://www.diggiloo.net/?1956it2 Amami Se Vuoi (Love me if you Want)	n/k	-
The table is ordered by the order of appearance.

Score sheet

		Juries
		Netherlands	Switzerland	Belgium	Germany	France	Luxembourg	Italy
Contestants	Netherlands	There was no scoreboard for this contest, as the voting was not made public. Some Eurovision fans have tried to get it released to the public, but have failed to do so.
	Switzerland
	Belgium
	Germany
	France
	Luxembourg
	Italy
	Netherlands
	Switzerland
	Belgium
	Germany
	France
	Luxembourg
	Italy
The table is ordered by appearance.

Map

Image:ESC1956.GIF
* Green = Participating countries

Category:1956 in music