The animation was created by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, who refused credit as they were still under contract to MGM. The bellhop at the beginning was Johnny Roventini, who represented Philip Morris for decades. Several variations of the animated opening were made, each one referencing one of I Love Lucy's sponsors. Besides Philip Morris, these included Proctor & Gamble (for Cheer laundry detergent and Lit Home Permanent), General Foods (for Sanka), and Ford Motor Company.
The "the heart on satin" opening was created for the reruns CBS started airing in the daytime in the 1959-1960 season and was then subsequently used in syndication. The reason for this was that the reruns on CBS and later in syndication would naturally have different sponsors, making references to the original sponsors irrelevant. The heat design and its typography were created by Verdun Philip Cook, who was a typographer and animator who did work for Desilu Productions. The post-production on the "heart on satin" opening was done by Howard Anderson Jr.'s studio. Howard Anderson Jr. was a visual effects artist who later worked on another Desilu show, Star Trek.
I Love Lucy was one of the earliest TV shows to have animated opening credits and possibly the first sitcom to do so. In that respect, it was yet another way in which I Love Lucy would prove influential. Animated openings to shows would prove popular during the Fifties and well into the Sixties, with such shows as Dobie Gillis (during its first season), Bachelor Father, My Three Sons, Bewitched, The Wild West West, and I Dream of Jeannie among those with animated credit sequences.
Below is a video of the original opening from the debut episode of I Love Lucy and the "heart on satin" opening used in reruns.
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