Eurovision 1964: A change is gonna come | Super-cut with animated scoreboard

Описание: As semi-reconstruction of an edited down version of the Eurovision Song Contest 1964 from wonderful Copenhagen with a scoreboard using today’s technology. This all started as a lockdown project!

This edit will both give you a flavour of the evening (Saturday 21st March) and hopefully give you another perspective of a Contest that doesn’t have a full video recording.

As the dust settled on the chaotic voting in London, Danmarks Radio found themselves with the daunting prospect of delivering their largest ever production. Far from shying away from hosting, they got everything sorted they could: A venue, a presenter, 16 songs, an interval act, an opening performance, a radical new scoreboard design. The only thing they didn’t have, for us in 2021, was a recorder.

Rumours of a fire that incinerated the recordings have been dismissed, and even though it now seems odd, it was reasonable for a smaller broadcaster like Danmarks Radio not to be recording live programmes. It’s a little excruciating that it would be more normal in just a few years’ time in Denmark, but it’s worth remembering that it’s estimated that as little as 8-10% of black and white UK TV exists from the 1960s.

About a month before this Contest, Sam Cooke released his culturally significant song ‘A Change is Gonna Come’ in the US. It’s a song that reflects the arduous pace of the Civil Rights movement with the hopeful message that change, for the better, is on it’s way. Although nothing to do with Eurovision, it sets the wide stage in which this Contest takes place, and what happens within it.

A Chris West writes in his book, there’s a few manifestations of the change that the 1960s were bringing in this very show. Anneke Grönloh (NED) became the first non-white performer, with her peppy pop number (unfortunately in unlucky position 2). Race relations would be a hot topic around Europe as the German ‘Gastarbeiter’ programme celebrated it’s millionth arrival this year, and continuing decolonisation lead to people from all over the world arriving in Western European ports. Sabahudin Kurt (YUG) also became the first Muslim on the Eurovision stage. We also had the first stage invader, ushering in the new tactic of using live television as a form of direct action by those wanting to institute change.

All this is bathed in the early dawn light of pop arriving at the Contest. Although there’s plenty for traditionalists (Monaco, Belgium, the UK to some extent), Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Spain offer a vision of the future. It wouldn’t be until next year that pop really arrived, but the seeds of change are here. Let’s not overlook quality too, there’s some great lyrics in this show, none more so than in the runaway winning song, sung by a 16-year-old Gigliola Cinquetti, protesting that her age necessitates her independence – youth being another key driver of change in the 1960s.

DESIGN AND THE BOARD
Obviously, I had a lot to build, and once again (like 1996) my rather shoddy modelling and lighting skills were used to set the limited footage we have from 1964 into a studio setting. The Copenhagen set is much more traditional than the one seen in London, although it has the odd flicker of modern Danish design, with the lovely staircase at the back the stage. Obviously, the massive design change came in the form of the scoreboard, which was completely out of left field! Gone were song numbers, song names and even points in digit form! Instead, a horizontal bar would move across the screen denoting the points total. A change indeed! In many ways, it’s trying to achieve what this channel is trying to achieve – making the voting sequences more enjoyable but giving a quicker visual aid as to who is ahead and how near (or in this case, far) the next country is. It’s a radical design (in English, not Danish) which cleverest offering is the ‘dice’ design in which points awarded during the round would light up. It’s a neat way to explain the slightly complex ‘135369’ system. For me, I used some kindly donated ko-fi money to buy some models of flowers and vases, and a new typeface called ‘Bluescreens’. My adaptation of the board attempts to keep as much of the original design but in a form that allows reordering.

TRANSFER NEWS (source: Wiki)
OUT: SWE - Industrial action by the Musician’s Union – the first of such disturbances in the ESC.
IN: Portugal – RTP was a ‘fully active’ EBU member in 1959. Regular television didn’t start until 1957 and of course, for reasons in the video, both Spain and Portugal’s inclusion in the Contest would prove controversial at first. Their opening number was great though, even though it’s the first debutant to earn 0.

INTERVAL ACT
A ballet/panto mash-up. Traditional for Tivoli Gardens.

CREDITS
A full list of credits feature in the show. Too many to mention!
Flags: countryflags.com