Denmark took part in the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...

for the first time at the Eurovision Song Contest 1957, held in

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. The Danish entry was chosen during a national final called . The country was represented by

Birthe Wilke Birthe Wilke (born 19 March 1936) is a popular Danish singer. She grew up in a musical family in Copenhagen's Vesterbro area. Career When Wilke was in her teens, she won a talent competition at the National Scala Theatre in Copenhagen, sang ...

and

Gustav Winckler Gustav Frands Wilzeck Winckler (13 October 1925 – 20 January 1979) was a popular Danish singer, composer and music publisher. He grew up in the Nørrebro district of Copenhagen and started his career as a decorator. In 1948 as a young man ...

with the song "Skibet skal sejle i nat", written by Erik Fiehn and Poul Sørensen. Denmark had wanted to take part in the first Eurovision Song Contest in 1956 but withdrew because no entry was submitted before the deadline.

Before Eurovision

Dansk Melodi Grand Prix ''1957''

''1957'' was held in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

on 17 February 1957. The show was hosted by

Volmer Sørensen Volmer may refer to: People * Arvo Volmer (born 1962), Estonian conductor * Hardi Volmer (born 1957), Estonian film director, puppet theatre set decorator and musician * Joost Volmer (born 1974), Dutch footballer * Max Volmer (1885–1965), German ...

. 117 songs had been submitted to the broadcaster and six of them were chosen for the national final. Two singers were competing in the selection -

and

. Both performed two songs as soloists and they also performed two songs as a duo. A jury of ten people selected the winner and only the top two were announced, which turned out to be the two duets. "Skibet skal sejle i nat" was the overall winner and would become Denmark's first entry in the Eurovision Song Contest.

Releases

"" was recorded and released on an EP of the same title. The runner-up entry "" was included on this record too. After the contest, Gustav Winkler has recorded a German version of the song ("") with Bibi Johns. Winkler himself appeared as Gunnar Winkler on this record, the name under which he was popular in Germany in these days.

At Eurovision

Denmark was the first Scandinavian country in the competition. At the Eurovision Song Contest in

, the Danish entry was visually one of the most impressive ones that year: to illustrate the content of the song, which is about a sailor who has to say goodbye to a woman he met and fell in love with during a shore leave,Skibet skal sejle i nat - Lyrics from Diggiloo Thrush
/ref> Winkler was dressed up as a sailor and Wilke as a woman standing at the harbour wearing a coat with a purse in her hand. Furthermore, a tar vat was brought on stage to create a harbour atmosphere. Additionally, the song is famous for the kiss the duo exchanged at the end of the performance – the longest stage kiss in contest history, made so by a stagehand omitting to signal for it to end. The Danish entry was performed ninth (2nd last) on the night following

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

and preceding

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. At the close of voting, Denmark had received ten points in total placing the country third among the ten participants. Denmark would remain the most successful debuting country in the Eurovision Song Contest until Poland finished second on its debut in

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

. However, Denmark has only received points from three of the other nine countries, most notably five points from the Netherlands.

Voting

Every country had a jury of ten people. Every jury member could give one point to his or her favourite song.

Sources

The Danish final of esconnet.dk

References

{{Eurovision Song Contest 1957

1957 1957 ( MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1957th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 957th year of the 2nd millennium, the 57th year of the 20th century, and the 8th y ...

Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 1957

Eurovision The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...