While the theme song to I Love Lucy has no lyrics, anyone who’s ever caught an episode remembers the iconic script inscribing a heart resting on velvet, introducing Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz as the sitcom’s stars.
But if you were catching the show in the 1950s, the familiar heart wasn’t part of your I Love Lucy evening. In fact, that particular opening didn’t arrive until years later when the sitcom went into syndication. A curious viewer tuning into the initial episodes of I Love Lucy saw a very different way of opening the show.
In this version, animated stick figures of Ball and Arnaz dance atop a pack of Philip Morris cigarettes, a “special blend” promising pure tobacco refreshment. The cartoon was produced by William Hanna and Joseph Barbara, creators of Tom and Jerry and a host of other characters who’d become popular in the decades to come.
But if you were catching the show in the 1950s, the familiar heart wasn’t part of your I Love Lucy evening. In fact, that particular opening didn’t arrive until years later when the sitcom went into syndication. A curious viewer tuning into the initial episodes of I Love Lucy saw a very different way of opening the show.
In this version, animated stick figures of Ball and Arnaz dance atop a pack of Philip Morris cigarettes, a “special blend” promising pure tobacco refreshment. The cartoon was produced by William Hanna and Joseph Barbara, creators of Tom and Jerry and a host of other characters who’d become popular in the decades to come.
- 6/5/2025
- Cracked
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