Jerry Pulls The Strings is a classic puppet film that was produced for the 1939-40 New York World’s Fair:

In the narrative a young puppeteer proves to his prospective father-in-law, a coffee packer, that puppeteering is a viable occupation by using marionettes to tell the story of coffee. The young man uses 80 string puppets and deep, dimensional sets to explain how coffee is grown, harvested, roasted, and packed in vacuum cans to retain flavor.

The film is notable because it features the puppetry Rufus and Margo Rose, who had first met working for the legendary Tony Sarg and would go on to help create Howdy Doody and help found the O’Neil Puppet Conference (among other accolades). The Roses were assisted on the film by puppeteers Sylvia Meredith, Frank and Fania Sullivan, Martin and Olga Stevens and Evelyn and Bil Baird.

Jerry Pulls The Strings – which is in the public domain – was digitized and released online by A/V Geeks as part of their 100 Miles Film Preservation Project.