France was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 1957 with the song "", composed by Guy Lafarge, with lyrics by Francis Carco, and performed by Paule Desjardins. Though French participating broadcaster (RTF) held a national final to select its entry, it ultimately switched to an internal selection. "" was performed eighth at the contest and placed second, receiving 17 points.

Before Eurovision

(RTF) aired on its television channel every two weeks on Fridays between 21 December 1956 and 28 February 1957 at 20:40 CET. It was directed by Igor Barrère and presented by Robert Beauvais in a studio in Paris.

In each show, five new songs were presented. The songs were arranged by , and accompanied by an orchestra under the direction of Paul Durand. Each song was presented twice, once sung, and once in an instrumental version or sung by a different artist.

Six juries sitting in six French cities chose a winner in each show, with the sixth and last jury to give its vote usually being the jury in Paris. Despite the title of the show ("Seven cities, one song"), the heats usually featured juries from only six cities, with the exception of the first heat of 21 December 1957, which featured juries from seven cities.

Every jury consisted of 11 viewers who watched the broadcast on television. Each juror gave one vote to their favourite song. Robert Beauvais called the juries on telephone and oversaw the voting with the help of a scoreboard in the studio. According to newspaper L'Aurore, due to technical issues regarding the telephone lines, all juries were relocated to Paris after the first show.

Heat 1 The first heat of was aired on 21 December 1956. Five songs were presented. The winning song "" was written by Henri Bourtayre, with lyrics by Francis Blanche. For the interval act, Paule Desjardins performed "". +Heat 1 – 21 December 1956First PerformanceSecond PerformanceSongSongwriter(s)VotesPlaceArtistArtist 1 7Paul Péri"Vive le mariage"83 2Jacqueline Roland 4 scope="row" "Le Petit Homme et la noix"341 3Claudine Céréda and Paul Mattei 8Catherine Maisse"Quand ton amour sera fini"45 5 9"Rio"64 6Les Blue Stars 10Paule Desjardins"Il est là"222

+ Heat 1 – Detailed jury voting results Song scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" Total"Vive le mariage"411118"Le Petit Homme et la noix"63585734"Quand ton amour sera fini"224"Rio"66"Il est là"72233522

Heat 2 The second heat of was aired on 4 January 1957. Five new songs were presented. The winning song "" was written by Léo Chauliac and Henri Contet. As the interval act, Jacqueline Roland performed the winning song from heat 1, "".

An incident occurred during the voting: Despite the rules that allowed each jury to distribute only 11 votes, the jury of Lille distributed 28 votes. The spokespersons of the following juries in Lyon and Nice protested against this irregularity before giving their respective votes, wrongly accusing Marseille instead of Lille. Presenter Robert Beauvais promised that the matter would be investigated, but ultimately continued the voting. He apologised to viewers for the error in the next heat on 18 January 1957.

+Heat 2 – 4 January 1957First PerformanceSecond PerformanceSongSongwriter(s)VotesPlaceArtistArtist 1Marcel Amont 4"Le Photographe"133 2Nadine Young 7Les Blue Stars"Ma Petite Femme et moi"182 3 8"Le Manteau de laine"291 5Hélène Martin 10Jean Arnaud"Le bleu c'est pour les amoureux"105 6 9"La Polka du petit poisson rouge"G. Matis133

+Heat 2 – Detailed jury voting results Song scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" Total"Le Photographe"714113"Ma Petite Femme et moi"514818"Le Manteau de laine"310513729"Le bleu c'est pour les amoureux"233210"La Polka du petit poisson rouge"631313

Heat 3 The third heat of was aired on 18 January 1957. It was in this heat that Robert Beauvais announced for the first time that the show would serve as the selection for the French entry in the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest. Five new songs were presented. The winning song "" was written by and . performed the winning song from heat 2, "", as the interval act.

+Heat 3 – 18 January 1957First PerformanceSecond PerformanceSongSongwriter(s)VotesPlaceArtistArtist 1Suc et Serre 8"Le Clodo des toits"Jean-Pierre Suc45 2Jean Bertola 5 scope="row" "C'est demain"181 3Mathé Altéry 7"Celui que j'aime"162 4Jacques Leroy 9Les Quatre de Paris"La Cour de mon école"162 6 10Pierre Louki"La Môme aux boutons"124

+ Heat 3 – Detailed jury voting results Song scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" Total"Le Clodo des toits"1214"C'est demain"3129318"Celui que j'aime"384116"La Cour de mon école"3613316"La Môme aux boutons"2412312

Heat 4 The fourth heat of was aired on 1 February 1957. The winning song from heat 3, "" was played by and Paul Durand's orchestra in an instrumental version as the interval act.

+Heat 4 – 1 February 1957First PerformanceSecond PerformanceSongSongwriter(s)ArtistArtist 1Renée Pierre 6"Encore de l'argent" 2 5 scope="row" "Je m'ballade dans Paname" 3 10"Au bal du samedi" 4Line Andrès 8Bob Martin"Seulement" 7Danièle Dupré 9"Le Vieux Marin"Botton

Heat 5 The fifth heat was held on 15 February 1957. In contrast to the other heats, it was directed by Claude Dagues. As the interval act, the winning song from heat 4, "" was performed by . Heat 5 was won by the song "" written by Guy Lafarge (music) and Francis Carco (lyrics).

+Heat 5 – 15 February 1957First PerformanceSecond PerformanceSongSongwriter(s)VotesPlaceArtistArtist 1Maria Lea 7Christian Borel"Les Deux Enfants"94 2 4"Des souris et des chats"153 3Louis Massis 6"Les Aurochs"05 5Josette Privat 9 scope="row" "La Belle Amour"251 8 10Les Bass'Harmonistes"Moi qui vous parle"172

+ Heat 5 – Detailed jury voting results Song scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" Total"Les Deux Enfants"4149"Des souris et des chats"68115"Les Aurochs"0"La Belle Amour"11761025"Moi qui vous parle"1042117

Heat 6 The sixth and last heat of was held on 28 February 1957. In this heat, presenter Robert Beauvais renewed the announcement that the format would be used to select the French entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 1957. In contrast to previous heats with five songs, six songs were presented in this heat. As the interval act, Josette Privat performed the winning song from heat 5, "". Heat 6 was won by "" and "", finishing both with 15 votes. "" was written by Paul Aliprandi.

+Heat 6 – 28 February 1957First PerformanceSecond PerformanceSongSongwriter(s)VotesPlaceArtistArtist 1 5"La Dondon"36 2Félix Marten 9Les Frères Demarny"Mon Bon Vieux Phono"95 3Guy Severyns 7 scope="row" "Quelqu'un viendra demain"J. P. Mottier151 4Victoria Marino 11Miguel Amador"Villa Bella"123 6Lucien Lupi 10 scope="row" "La Reine du port"Paul Aliprandi151 8 12Jacqueline Allard"Mon Premier Amour"104

+ Heat 6 – Detailed jury voting results Song scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" Total"La Dondon"33"Mon Bon Vieux Phono"3249"Quelqu'un viendra demain"4224315"Villa Bella"61512"La Reine du port"334515 "Mon Premier Amour"1314110

Selection of the French entry Despite having announced as preselection, RTF finally opted for an internal selection: a separate jury that included Robert Beauvais chose Paule Desjardins as French representative and the song "" as the French entry. "" had won the fifth heat of . It was written by Guy Lafarge (music) and Francis Carco (lyrics).

On 21 February, Deutsches Fernsehen published a press release on the upcoming contest in Frankfurt, saying that Paule Desjardins would sing a song by Guy Lafarge for France. TV listings magazine Radio-Télévision 57 mentioned her as the French representative in its issue of 24 February 1957. Le Franc-Tireur reported on 26 February 1957 that she would sing "" in Frankfurt.

Official TV listings for the Eurovision Song Contest on 3 March still claimed that the French entry had been chosen in . Apparently, RTF did not inform television viewers sufficiently ahead of the Eurovision Song Contest: TV listings magazine Télévision Programme Magazine later reported having received numerous letters by angry viewers who criticised RTF for its lack of transparency in the selection and for the last-minute replacement of Josette Privat (who had sung the song in ) with Paule Desjardins. The magazine contacted Robert Beauvais, who had presented all shows and had been involved in the decision. Beauvais stated that RTF wanted a good-looking international star to represent France and that Privat was "young, therefore without experience. Her appearance of a nice urchin [gavroche] could not be suitable." According to Beauvais, RTF first had asked Jacqueline François but since she was not available for the date of the contest, they then turned to Paule Desjardins.

At Eurovision At the Eurovision Song Contest held on 3 March 1957 in Frankfurt, Paule Desjardins performed eight, following the and preceding . "" was conducted by Paul Durand. The song received 17 votes, placing second in a field of ten. It was succeeded as French representative at the 1958 contest by André Claveau, with "".

Eurovision Song Contest 1957 was broadcast on French television RTF and radio Paris-Inter, on both stations with commentary by Robert Beauvais.

Voting Every country had a jury of ten people. Every jury member could give one vote to their favourite song. The French jury included , France Roche, Cora Vaucaire, Paul Colin, Maurice Dekobra, Louis Ducreux, Marcepoil, Jean Marsac and François Périer.

+ Votes awarded to France Score Country 6 votes 4 votes 2 votes 1 vote

+ Votes awarded by France Score Country 6 votes 4 votes

Notes

References