New footage of Eurovision 1956 uncovered!

Not much is known about Eurovision 1956.

We don’t even have a full video broadcast of the event. As well as this most voting occurred behind closed doors so the only thing that is known for sure is that Switzerland won. For years, the only footage that we have had of the event is a radio broadcast as well Lys Assia’s reprise. Even then, we didn’t have the whole reprise, only two minutes of it.

Now, that has all changed.

New Footage uncovered

Previously unseen footage of Lys Assia’s winner’s performance has emerged and has been circulating the internet. It reveals all 5.55 minutes of her winners reprise in its full glory. The footage was found and brought to light by Kalvin Lindfors on his blog Good Evening Europe. Good Evening Europe is a blog that is dedicated to finding archival footage of Eurovision’s past. One of the things that stand out is that Assia becomes emotional after the first line and requests a redo. This is a seemingly human moment from a contest that once felt lost to history. The video was not taken from the TV broadcast of the reprise, but instead, it was recorded by Swiss photographer Vincenzo Vicari (1911-2007). You can view the full reprise here!

Vicari also took photos during the rehearsal for the inaugural contest, both during rehearsals and during the actual event. Lindfors in his article also has made educated guesses on who’s who in the photos, but it’s mostly unknown. The photos highlight the fact that artists changed outfits between their first and second songs- something that only happened at the first contest as it was the only year each country presented two songs. As well as this, one can speculate from these photos like 1957, 1958, 1959, the artists had different backdrops- a practice that fell out of use as the contest grew but was prominent in the 1950s.

Take a look at the photos below.

For now, this footage is all that’s been uncovered. Truth is, we really don’t know if this is all there is or if there is more footage out there. But it does highlight a glimpse of hope that there may be more footage out there of Eurovision 1956.

What do you think about this new footage? Do you know who’s in the photos? Finally, do you think there’s more footage out there? Let us know in the comments or on social media. Be sure to follow ‘THAT Eurovision Site’ on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

News Source: Good Evening Europe Blog

Photo Source: Vincenzo Vicari