October 15, 1951…’I Love Lucy’ Debuts On CBS, Tribute 1 Of 4

Original Stick Figure Intro And First Episode…

This is the a video lesson on the first of television’s most famous shows. In this post, there are a few surprises in this clip with film and photos from  Episode 1, Season 1 and, the first episode which was titled “The Girls Want To Go To A Nightclub” which is at this link.

Before the “satin heart” intro that almost everyone on the planet has seen, the show’s entire six years of first run episodes used the animated stick figure opening that you will see below. The opening familiar to most viewers, featuring the credits superimposed over a “heart on satin” image, was created specifically for the 1959–67 CBS daytime network rebroadcasts.

For the original run of the show, the episodes opened with animated matchstick figures of Arnaz and Ball making reference to whoever the particular episode’s sponsor was. Here’s a surprise…these sequences were created by the animation team of William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, who declined screen credit because they were technically under exclusive contract to MGM at the time. More to come! Enjoy and Share! -Bobby Ellerbee

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1rpAUhbARY

i Love Lucy Clip

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