Original 1950s animated opening for theme song - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

jjjj · 03-12-2006, 10:15 PM

Can anyone direct me to a site where I can view the ORIGINAL animated opening to "I Love Lucy" (as aired on CBS in the 1950s)? I've tried all over, including www.youns.com/lucy (which didn't work on my computer). Thanks.

Coffeecup · 03-18-2006, 08:45 PM

I spent an hour on that site. Quite interesting.

musicradio77 · 03-19-2006, 12:58 PM

Here is the description for the animated opening of "I Love Lucy" courtesy of Toon Tracker.

http://www.toontracker.com/lucy/lucy.htm

The opening clip from Toon Tracker has a Philip-Morris sponsor, but the TV Land version has a same opening replacing the Philip-Morris name with "TV Land Presents".

musicradio77 · 03-19-2006, 01:07 PM

From Toon Tracker's website:

I Love Lucy : The Lost Toons

I Love Lucy - the name brings back all kinds of fond memories - remember the Vitameatavegamin episode or how about Lucy and Ethel's escapades at the candy factory. Or how about those funny animations at the beginning of the show.

What!!!

You're probably saying I'm crazy. Then ,of course, most people are familiar with the satin heart and the scripted titles in front. What you may not know is that the show started out quite differently from it's present-day version.

When the show first aired in the early 50's, viewers were treated to an animated stick-figure Lucy and Ricky courtesy of the shows sponsor, Phillip Morris Cigarette. Keep in mind, things were different back then. Since the cancer-causing company sponsored the show, they got to plug their names everywhere and anywhere they pleased. So as soon as the stick figures came on, an overhead said, ""Phillip Morris, America's finest cigarette presents, The Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Show - I Love Lucy". Following this, the two stick figures would proceed to do little activities like running around, twirling or bouncing off giant packs of Phillips-Morris cigarettes while the announcer explained the joys of smoking Phillip-Morrises'. Each episode opening they would do something different providing for a unique viewing experience each time. And this wasn't the only time you'd see the two of them animated because they also introduced commercials within the show as cartoon characters.

So why the departure of these delightful openings. Well, back in 1957, when CBS started showing reruns of the earlier shows on Saturday nights, Phillips Morris was no longer sponsoring the show. This meant that CBS was forced to come up with an opening that wouldn't promote any particular company, hence the current satin heart. And since the cigarette ads are so prominently mixed in with the animation, it's impossible to edit them to conform to current standards. So that's that - like many show openings from the 50's, the I Love Lucy openings will likely never be shown again.

Now the big question is who actually animated these little segments. Well, thanks to Ron Kurer of the Toon Tracker we now know the answer. Apparently, the work was done by Hanna-Barbara's unit during their tenure at MGM, when they were producing all those Tom and Jerry's. Gene Hazelton was responsible for most of the animation. A question that remains unanswered though is why wasn't a revised version of the animated characters considered for the new introduction?

Here's my answer. TV Land revived the original opening credits for "I Love Lucy" using the animated characters back in the early 50's. But they used the tagline instead of the Philip-Morris name, they renamed "TV Land Presents" instead of the sponsor. I remember WNEW-TV (now WNYW-TV) in New York City used to air reruns of "I Love Lucy" every morning for a long time. It was a great show. It has the syndicated opening with just the heart replacing the original opening credits with the animated one. I miss the good old days of Lucy reruns on channel 5.

Brian Damage · 03-19-2006, 09:49 PM

I loved the cartoon opening.

TV Knowledge Fan · 04-17-2006, 05:37 PM

...several different variations of the opening animated title (as shown in "reconstituted form" on TV LAND) because for one thing, after 1954, "I LOVE LUCY" had MORE than one sponsor. When Philip Morris cut back to alternate-week sponsorship in the fall of 1954, Procter & Gamble became the "other" sponsor- and new titles showcasing "Lilt" Home Permanent, "Cheer" detergent, etc., were used. After Philip Morris dropped out of the show in the fall of 1955, General Foods took their place, with "Sanka" coffee and the like appearing in the new opening titles...and continued to do so until the end of the final 1956-'57 season. And, of course, you won't ever see the ORIGINAL titles to the "hour-long" shows...they, too, were animated and had "Ford" (1957-'58) and "Westinghouse" (1958-'60) billboards in them. I remember there WERE syndicated versions of the animated titles for the "Comedy Hour" in the '70s, but not today {they use the opening titles used on CBS in 1962 and '63!}.

storrs19 · 04-22-2006, 12:37 AM

What irritates me is that they use the stupid "heart on satin" opening on the dvd sets

Since they usally include the original openings (and sometimes a few closings also) on the dvds why not put them in their rightful place at the beginning of the show. I get a real charge out of the original closings telling you to watch for so and so on CBS on such and such night. I took and edited the orignal opening and closing for "Friends shouldn't do Business with Friends" with the computer so now that it looks like it did when it aired including the special tag reminding you to tune in this fall for I Love Lucy.

I have a feeling why they don't put the original opening and closing segments on the shows themselves but I will wait and see if anyone else here thinks it is for the same reason I do.

Benno123 · 04-22-2006, 09:18 PM

I wish the DVDs would include the Lucy and Desi Philip Morris commercials, as well as other commercials they appeared in. Regardless of cigarettes or whatever is being advertised, why would it hurt to include them? They're of historical importance. I heard that Paramount did not want these ads included, but then again when was the last time you saw Fluffo on the shelves at your local grocier?

Dizzy Arnizzy · 04-29-2006, 09:06 PM

I think the original credits for the episodes weren't included on the ILL DVDs because the "heart on satin" credits are more popular than the original credits will ever be. For ILL's 40th Anniversary (in '91), a laserdisc was released with two episodes ("Lucy Does a TV Commercial" & "Job Switching"), and both episodes were shown as originally aired, with original credits, openings, commercials, etc. The laserdisc also included three audio commentaries (on by Bart Andrews, another with people that were on the set for while the two episodes were being filmed, and I can't remember what the last commentary was, since I haven't watched it in so long). GREAT seeing ILL as it originally aired.

The sixth season of ILL, which will be released on DVD in a few days (Tues., May 2nd), will include some of the original credits and commercials. Other ILL episodes as they originally aired (with commercials, credits, etc.) are available from video collectors around the globe...I have about ten other episodes (beside the two on the laserdisc) myself.

Edited to add: You can purchase the first few episodes of ILL with original commericals, credits, etc. from: http://www.videounlimited.org/...I have purchased from them many times, and recommend them very much.

03-12-2006, 10:15 PM	#1
jjjj Member Occasional Poster Join Date: Nov 26, 2002 Posts: 10	Original 1950s animated opening for theme song Can anyone direct me to a site where I can view the ORIGINAL animated opening to "I Love Lucy" (as aired on CBS in the 1950s)? I've tried all over, including www.youns.com/lucy (which didn't work on my computer). Thanks.
	Last edited by jjjj; 03-12-2006 at 10:31 PM.

03-19-2006, 12:58 PM	#3
musicradio77 Disney Expert Forum Veteran Join Date: Jul 14, 2003 Location: Brooklyn, NY USA Posts: 6,475	Here is the description for the animated opening of "I Love Lucy" courtesy of Toon Tracker. http://www.toontracker.com/lucy/lucy.htm The opening clip from Toon Tracker has a Philip-Morris sponsor, but the TV Land version has a same opening replacing the Philip-Morris name with "TV Land Presents".
	__________________ Musicradio77 Productions

03-19-2006, 09:49 PM	#5
Brian Damage I'm Rich Bitch Forum Icon Join Date: Feb 03, 2002 Location: What Ain't No Country I Ever Heard Of...They Speak English in What? Posts: 63,107	I loved the cartoon opening.
	__________________ The Key to the Kingdom of Heaven: John 3:3 *Money Doesn't Buy Happiness...But I'd Rather Cry in My Private Jet*

04-17-2006, 05:37 PM	#6
TV Knowledge Fan Member Senior Member Join Date: Mar 29, 2006 Location: Long Branch, N.J. Posts: 2,577	Actually, there were... ...several different variations of the opening animated title (as shown in "reconstituted form" on TV LAND) because for one thing, after 1954, "I LOVE LUCY" had MORE than one sponsor. When Philip Morris cut back to alternate-week sponsorship in the fall of 1954, Procter & Gamble became the "other" sponsor- and new titles showcasing "Lilt" Home Permanent, "Cheer" detergent, etc., were used. After Philip Morris dropped out of the show in the fall of 1955, General Foods took their place, with "Sanka" coffee and the like appearing in the new opening titles...and continued to do so until the end of the final 1956-'57 season. And, of course, you won't ever see the ORIGINAL titles to the "hour-long" shows...they, too, were animated and had "Ford" (1957-'58) and "Westinghouse" (1958-'60) billboards in them. I remember there WERE syndicated versions of the animated titles for the "Comedy Hour" in the '70s, but not today {they use the opening titles used on CBS in 1962 and '63!}.

04-22-2006, 12:37 AM	#7
storrs19 B&W TV Lover Forum Regular Join Date: Jan 07, 2003 Location: Louisville, Kentucky Posts: 742	What irritates me is that they use the stupid "heart on satin" opening on the dvd sets Since they usally include the original openings (and sometimes a few closings also) on the dvds why not put them in their rightful place at the beginning of the show. I get a real charge out of the original closings telling you to watch for so and so on CBS on such and such night. I took and edited the orignal opening and closing for "Friends shouldn't do Business with Friends" with the computer so now that it looks like it did when it aired including the special tag reminding you to tune in this fall for I Love Lucy. I have a feeling why they don't put the original opening and closing segments on the shows themselves but I will wait and see if anyone else here thinks it is for the same reason I do.
	__________________ Bring back my B&W TV Shows !!

03-18-2006, 08:45 PM	#2
Coffeecup coffeecup. Forum 3000 Club Member Join Date: Jan 17, 2003 Location: snoozeville Posts: 3,183	I spent an hour on that site. Quite interesting.

03-19-2006, 01:07 PM	#4
musicradio77 Disney Expert Forum Veteran Join Date: Jul 14, 2003 Location: Brooklyn, NY USA Posts: 6,475	From Toon Tracker's website: I Love Lucy : The Lost Toons I Love Lucy - the name brings back all kinds of fond memories - remember the Vitameatavegamin episode or how about Lucy and Ethel's escapades at the candy factory. Or how about those funny animations at the beginning of the show. What!!! You're probably saying I'm crazy. Then ,of course, most people are familiar with the satin heart and the scripted titles in front. What you may not know is that the show started out quite differently from it's present-day version. When the show first aired in the early 50's, viewers were treated to an animated stick-figure Lucy and Ricky courtesy of the shows sponsor, Phillip Morris Cigarette. Keep in mind, things were different back then. Since the cancer-causing company sponsored the show, they got to plug their names everywhere and anywhere they pleased. So as soon as the stick figures came on, an overhead said, ""Phillip Morris, America's finest cigarette presents, The Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Show - I Love Lucy". Following this, the two stick figures would proceed to do little activities like running around, twirling or bouncing off giant packs of Phillips-Morris cigarettes while the announcer explained the joys of smoking Phillip-Morrises'. Each episode opening they would do something different providing for a unique viewing experience each time. And this wasn't the only time you'd see the two of them animated because they also introduced commercials within the show as cartoon characters. So why the departure of these delightful openings. Well, back in 1957, when CBS started showing reruns of the earlier shows on Saturday nights, Phillips Morris was no longer sponsoring the show. This meant that CBS was forced to come up with an opening that wouldn't promote any particular company, hence the current satin heart. And since the cigarette ads are so prominently mixed in with the animation, it's impossible to edit them to conform to current standards. So that's that - like many show openings from the 50's, the I Love Lucy openings will likely never be shown again. Now the big question is who actually animated these little segments. Well, thanks to Ron Kurer of the Toon Tracker we now know the answer. Apparently, the work was done by Hanna-Barbara's unit during their tenure at MGM, when they were producing all those Tom and Jerry's. Gene Hazelton was responsible for most of the animation. A question that remains unanswered though is why wasn't a revised version of the animated characters considered for the new introduction? Here's my answer. TV Land revived the original opening credits for "I Love Lucy" using the animated characters back in the early 50's. But they used the tagline instead of the Philip-Morris name, they renamed "TV Land Presents" instead of the sponsor. I remember WNEW-TV (now WNYW-TV) in New York City used to air reruns of "I Love Lucy" every morning for a long time. It was a great show. It has the syndicated opening with just the heart replacing the original opening credits with the animated one. I miss the good old days of Lucy reruns on channel 5.

04-22-2006, 09:18 PM	#8
Benno123 Jenna Fischer Rocks My World!! Senior Member Join Date: Nov 01, 2005 Location: Ohio Posts: 1,036	I wish the DVDs would include the Lucy and Desi Philip Morris commercials, as well as other commercials they appeared in. Regardless of cigarettes or whatever is being advertised, why would it hurt to include them? They're of historical importance. I heard that Paramount did not want these ads included, but then again when was the last time you saw Fluffo on the shelves at your local grocier?

04-29-2006, 09:06 PM	#9
Dizzy Arnizzy Member Frequent Poster Join Date: Dec 19, 2004 Posts: 110	I think the original credits for the episodes weren't included on the ILL DVDs because the "heart on satin" credits are more popular than the original credits will ever be. For ILL's 40th Anniversary (in '91), a laserdisc was released with two episodes ("Lucy Does a TV Commercial" & "Job Switching"), and both episodes were shown as originally aired, with original credits, openings, commercials, etc. The laserdisc also included three audio commentaries (on by Bart Andrews, another with people that were on the set for while the two episodes were being filmed, and I can't remember what the last commentary was, since I haven't watched it in so long). GREAT seeing ILL as it originally aired. The sixth season of ILL, which will be released on DVD in a few days (Tues., May 2nd), will include some of the original credits and commercials. Other ILL episodes as they originally aired (with commercials, credits, etc.) are available from video collectors around the globe...I have about ten other episodes (beside the two on the laserdisc) myself. Edited to add: You can purchase the first few episodes of ILL with original commericals, credits, etc. from: http://www.videounlimited.org/...I have purchased from them many times, and recommend them very much.