Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest 1960

Eurovision Song Contest 1960
Country	Netherlands
National selection
Selection process	Nationaal Songfestival 1960
Selection date(s)	9 February 1960
Selected entrant	Rudi Carrell
Selected song	"Wat een geluk"
Finals performance
Final result	12th, 2 points

The Netherlands was represented by Rudi Carrell, with the song '"Wat een geluk", at the 1960 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place on 29 March in London. Although Teddy Scholten had won the previous contest for the Netherlands, Dutch broadcaster NTS declined to host the contest for a second time in two years, so 1959 runners-up the United Kingdom had agreed to host the 1960 contest, which was staged by the BBC at London's Royal Festival Hall.

Song and singer were chosen independently of each other at the Dutch national final, held on 9 February. Other participants included future Dutch representatives Greetje Kauffeld (1961) and Annie Palmen (1963).

Final

The national final took place at the AVRO TV studios in Hilversum, hosted by Hannie Lips. Eight songs were involved, with all songs presented twice by different performers, once with a full orchestra and once in a more pared-down style. The format was basically the same as that used in 1959, apart from the fact that this year each singer performed only once so there were 16 participants in total.

The winning song was chosen by votes from regional juries, then an "expert" jury decided which of the two performers of the winning song should go to London. After "Wat een geluk" was announced the winner the expert jury chose Carrell over Palmen as the singer.^[1]

9 February 1960

Draw	Song	Performer 1	Performer 2	Points	Place
1	"Carroussel"	Marcel Thielemans	John de Mol	86	4
2	"Addio"	Betty Luske	Tonny van Hulst	110	2
3	"Niet voor mij"	Greetje Kauffeld	Piet Sybrandi	99	3
4	"In mijn hart"	Herman Emmink	Jan van de Most	77	5
5	"Regenkapje"	Karel van der Velden	Rita Huyskens	35	7
6	"Wat een geluk"	Annie Palmen	Rudi Carrell	225	1
7	"Vanavond"	Jaap Dubbelboer	Joop Smits	27	8
8	"Ik leef"	Wim van der Beek	Jany Brom	61	6

At Eurovision

On the night of the final Carrell performed 10th in the running order, following Switzerland and preceding Germany. At the close of voting "Wat een geluk" had received 2 points (1 each from Belgium and Italy), placing the Netherlands 12th of the 13 entries, ahead only of Luxembourg. The Dutch jury awarded its highest mark (5) to the United Kingdom.^[2]

Carrell's bad result marked the start of a very poor Eurovision decade for the Netherlands, in which the country never placed higher than 10th again until Lenny Kuhr's shared victory in the 1969 contest.

See also

• Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest
• Eurovision Song Contest 1960

External links

• Dutch Preselection 1960

References

1. ^ ESC National Finals - Netherlands 1960
2. ^ ESC History - Netherlands 1960