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.

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.