Grand Prix de la Chanson 1967
Jan. 11th, 2015 09:50 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
luckykaaThere's a small but enthusiastic Eurovision fan group here in Berlin! They decided to kick off Eurovision season with Eurovision 1967 - the last time it was hosted in Austria. Some things change, some stay the same. Bar was fully decked out with international flags, including a few from countries that didn't exist in 1967. I love fans of any stripe an colour! These guys were great!
So it started, with the Eurovison fanfare, and the title comes up. It wasn't "The Eurovision Song Contest" back then. Maybe it would have been in English. We had the German language version so the title was in French. Also in Black and White, which was a surprise. Colour TV did exist by that time, and Eurovision is usally pretty technologically forward thinking - it's all about the techies getting to play.
The hostess for the evening reads an introduction in German. Then reads the same introduction in French.
Then in English.
Then in Spanish
Then in Italian
I was a bit worried that we'd hear it again another 8 times (3 languages for Yugoslavia) but instead we had an apology that the hostess didn't have the time to learn those languages. And the contest began. With the Netherlands performing a decidedly Eurovision song with the title "Ring-Dinge-ding". None of the glamour or spectacle we're used to - this is just a song contest. There's an orchestra and each country picks their own conductor. Songs finish. Polite applause fromt he bowtied and black dressed ladies and gentlemen in the audience, and in the 21st century cheering and flag waving!
Highlight of course, was Great Britain. No really - that's not jingoism! Sandy Shaw's "Puppet on a String" was by far the best song of the batch! Our gang even joined in!
Intermissiion as the votes were tabulated. We saw Austria's boys choir or something performing Blue Danube... If you're reading this in 1967, expect to be hearing that a lot next year.
Voting was a slow drawn out process. No excitement in the studio. Plenty in the 21st century tme capsule. Occasional interruption as the people running the scoreboard messed up and it needed to be corrected. Not quite sure how the voting worked. Didn't seem to be any pattern. Puppet on a String was a runaway success getting votes from every country except Spain and Yugoslavia. Did we invade them in 1966 or something?
So anyway, Sandy Shaw won of course. And so she go to perform it again. Except they really didn't think this through. Sandy was still holding the flowers when it was announced she was to sing again. Poor Sandy looks a little panicked as she realises there's nobody to take them from here and hand her a microphone.
The show comes to an end. Our hsotess says "good night" in 1000 languages, but it's onlytwo words so doesn;t take that long. Meanwhile there's a lot of bustle in the background ans people walk past doing whatever the're doing.
Was TV really so unpolished in 1967?
The night ended with some other highlights of Eurovision songs. The 70's adds colour and sparkle and a disco feel. The stage expands in the 80's to accomodate shoulder pads.
Looking forward to 2015. Although I realise it clashes with Fedcon. Curse you fannishness!
So it started, with the Eurovison fanfare, and the title comes up. It wasn't "The Eurovision Song Contest" back then. Maybe it would have been in English. We had the German language version so the title was in French. Also in Black and White, which was a surprise. Colour TV did exist by that time, and Eurovision is usally pretty technologically forward thinking - it's all about the techies getting to play.
The hostess for the evening reads an introduction in German. Then reads the same introduction in French.
Then in English.
Then in Spanish
Then in Italian
I was a bit worried that we'd hear it again another 8 times (3 languages for Yugoslavia) but instead we had an apology that the hostess didn't have the time to learn those languages. And the contest began. With the Netherlands performing a decidedly Eurovision song with the title "Ring-Dinge-ding". None of the glamour or spectacle we're used to - this is just a song contest. There's an orchestra and each country picks their own conductor. Songs finish. Polite applause fromt he bowtied and black dressed ladies and gentlemen in the audience, and in the 21st century cheering and flag waving!
Highlight of course, was Great Britain. No really - that's not jingoism! Sandy Shaw's "Puppet on a String" was by far the best song of the batch! Our gang even joined in!
Intermissiion as the votes were tabulated. We saw Austria's boys choir or something performing Blue Danube... If you're reading this in 1967, expect to be hearing that a lot next year.
Voting was a slow drawn out process. No excitement in the studio. Plenty in the 21st century tme capsule. Occasional interruption as the people running the scoreboard messed up and it needed to be corrected. Not quite sure how the voting worked. Didn't seem to be any pattern. Puppet on a String was a runaway success getting votes from every country except Spain and Yugoslavia. Did we invade them in 1966 or something?
So anyway, Sandy Shaw won of course. And so she go to perform it again. Except they really didn't think this through. Sandy was still holding the flowers when it was announced she was to sing again. Poor Sandy looks a little panicked as she realises there's nobody to take them from here and hand her a microphone.
The show comes to an end. Our hsotess says "good night" in 1000 languages, but it's onlytwo words so doesn;t take that long. Meanwhile there's a lot of bustle in the background ans people walk past doing whatever the're doing.
Was TV really so unpolished in 1967?
The night ended with some other highlights of Eurovision songs. The 70's adds colour and sparkle and a disco feel. The stage expands in the 80's to accomodate shoulder pads.
Looking forward to 2015. Although I realise it clashes with Fedcon. Curse you fannishness!
