Sponsored Films

Pete-Roleum and His Cousins (1939)
Sponsor: Petroleum Industry Exhibition Inc. Production Co.: Loucks & Norling Studios. Director/Producer: Joseph Losey. Production Designer: Howard Bay. Music: Oscar Levant, Hanns Eisler. Animation: Charles R. Bowers. Puppetry: Lou Bunin. Transfer Note: Scanned from a 16mm print held by Anthology Film Archives. Running Time: 20 minutes.

World’s Fair film that playfully promotes the petroleum industry. With stop-motion animation by silent comedian Charley Bowers, Pete-Roleum and His Cousins uses small rubber puppets to represent a clan of oil drops and their leader, Pete. Annoyed by a heckler, they quit serving humankind, shut down the world economy, and prove the importance of petroleum. The film also weaves in the story of petroleum in America from the pioneer days to the present.

Note: Produced in Technicolor. The sponsor was a consortium organized by major petroleum companies for the purpose of mounting an exhibit at the 1939–40 New York World’s Fair. The film was Joseph Losey’s first screen credit.

Resources
Bosley Crowther, “Films for the Fair,” New York Times, Mar. 5, 1939, X5; “Advertisers’ Films Draw Huge Crowds at Nation’s Two Big Fairs,” Sales Management 45 (July 1, 1939): 34–47.