50-50, Special, Keotane and Powermax gasolines; Skelly Supreme, Tagolene, Skelmark and Ranger motor oils; and Skelgas propane products through Skelgas franchised stores. What may have been unique to Skelly, beginning in the late 1950s it offered its female customers a Ladies Credit Card in a shade of light blue. Skelly Oil Company grew to become a major oil company known for its exploration and production expertise as well as the capabilities of its refineries and manufacturing facilities in conjunction with its well-established marketing and distribution network. Skelly Oil Company was an early leader in offshore drilling and production ranging from Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico to the Persian Gulf with a foreign presence in Canada, Argentina, Australia, Korea, Libya, Iran, and Mozambique. In addition to its E&P and refining divisions, Skelly Oil Company also had well-established chemical, manufacturing, engineering, and research divisions. It was an early pioneer of LPG products and building upon its base of substantial uranium ore reserves, established a role in conversion and fuel fabrication and in recovery and reprocessing for the fledgling nuclear power industry. Skelly was among the leading oil companies to develop a network of truck stops along major highways including the interstate during the 1950s and 1960s. Skelly also had a contract to sell gasoline at most locations of the now-defunct Nickerson Farms restaurant chain during the 1960s and 1970s, which was similar to Texaco's arrangement with Stuckey's. Arts sponsorship The company was well known as a sponsor of the radio drama series The Air Adventures of Jimmie Allen and Captain Midnight. Skelly also sponsored Alex Dreier news broadcasts on ABC radio from Chicago in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Getty takeover William Skelly lost control of the company to J. Paul Getty in the 1930s, when the Great Depression put Skelly in a financial strain. To reduce the payroll, the company transferred some of its employees to Tidewater Associated Oil Company, which was controlled by J. Paul Getty and his mother, Sarah C. Getty. In the late 1930s these employees were transferred back to Skelly. The Gettys made a cash loan to Skelly Oil, and the company treasury held stock, and some of Mr. Skelly's stock was given as collateral for the loan. When the company was unable to repay the loan when it became due, the stock was transferred to Mission Corporation, a holding company of the Getty's that