🔴 1961 Eurovision Song Contest Full Show From Cannes/France (English Commentary by Tom Sloan)

Date: 18 March 1961 - Host Venue: Palais des Festivals et des Congrès, Cannes, France
Presenter: Jacqueline Joubert - Musical director: Franck Pourcel
Directed by Maurice Barry - Executive producer: Marcel Cravenne
Host broadcaster :Radiodiffusion-Télévision Française (RTF)
Interval act: Tessa Beaumont and Max Bozzoni

The Eurovision Song Contest 1961 was the 6th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Cannes, France, following the country's victory at the 1960 contest with the song "Tom Pillibi" by Jacqueline Boyer. It was the second time that France had hosted the contest; the first being in 1959 - also in Cannes. The contest was held at Palais des Festivals et des Congrès on 18 March 1961 and was the first to take place on a Saturday night, a tradition that has continued into modern times. The show was hosted by Jacqueline Joubert. The English commentary for the BBC viewers was not complete in 1961 due to technical issues. Tom Sloan's remarks are missing throughout the show before some songs.

Sixteen countries participated in the contest - three more than in the previous edition; Finland, Spain and Yugoslavia all made their début this year.

The winner was Luxembourg with the song "Nous les amoureux", performed by Jean-Claude Pascal, written by Maurice Vidalin, and composed by Jacques Datin. This was Luxembourg's first victory in the contest, with the United Kingdom finishing in second place for the third consecutive year.

As the contest overran its allocated time, and the show was being broadcast live, the winning song's reprise was not shown in the UK, but here in this video the show is complete of course with the winner's reprise.

The event took place in Cannes, France, with the venue being the original building of Palais des Festivals et des Congrès, after France got the right to host this edition of the Eurovision Song Contest for winning its previous 1960 edition with the song "Tom Pillibi" performed by Jacqueline Boyer.

Cannes, a city located on the French Riviera, is a busy tourist destination and known worldwide for hosting the annual Cannes Film Festival, with the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès also hosting the Film Festival. The original building was built in 1949 and was located on the boulevard of Promenade de la Croisette, on the present site of the JW Marriott Cannes. It also hosted the 1959 edition of the Eurovision Song Contest.

Jacqueline Joubert presented the show, having already done so two years earlier in 1959. The stage used for the 1961 Contest was notably larger than in previous years and was decorated with flowers. It is noticeable that during the voting, Luxembourg gave the UK eight points, and Norway also gave Denmark eight points. It was the largest number of points given to a country by a single jury since 1958, when Denmark provided France with nine points. Such a high number of points obtained by a country would not be achieved until 1970, when Ireland would receive nine points from Belgium.

Results:
Draw Country Artist Song Language Place Points
01 Spain Conchita Bautista "Estando contigo" Spanish 9 8
02 Monaco Colette Deréal "Allons, allons les enfants" French 10 6
03 Austria Jimmy Makulis "Sehnsucht" German 15 1
04 Finland Laila Kinnunen "Valoa ikkunassa" Finnish 10 6
05 Yugoslavia Ljiljana Petrović "Neke davne zvezde" (Неке давне звезде) Serbo-Croatian 8 9
06 Netherlands Greetje Kauffeld "Wat een dag" Dutch 10 6
07 Sweden Lill-Babs "April, april" Swedish 14 2
08 Germany Lale Andersen "Einmal sehen wir uns wieder" German, French 13 3
09 France Jean-Paul Mauric "Printemps, avril carillonne" French 4 13
10 Switzerland Franca di Rienzo "Nous aurons demain" French 3 16
11 Belgium Bob Benny "September, gouden roos" Dutch 15 1
12 Norway Nora Brockstedt "Sommer i Palma" Norwegian 7 10
13 Denmark Dario Campeotto "Angelique" Danish 5 12
14 Luxembourg Jean-Claude Pascal "Nous les amoureux" French 1 31
15 United Kingdom The Allisons "Are You Sure?" English 2 24
16 Italy Betty Curtis "Al di là" Italian 5 12