The Isle Of Pingo Pongo
- Studio
- A Vitaphone Production
- Distributor
- Warner Bros.
Synopsis
A travelogue which gets in all the usual sight gags ("Sandwich Islands", "Canary Islands"), it turns downright mean-spirited when dealing with the natives. Ubangi-style lips are served as dinner plates, lips serve as trumpets. Fierce drummers do a riff on "She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain When She Comes," and a Fats Waller type contributes to a scat-style rendition of "Sweet Georgia Brown."
Characters
Zulu Natives, Egghead, Mockingbird, Canary, Elephant, Gazelles, White Bear, Vacationing Eskimo
Credits
Directing
- Director
- Tex Avery
Producing
- Producer
- Leon Schlesinger
Writing
- Writer
- George Manuel
Voices
- Voice
- Robert C. Bruce (Narrator), The Sing Band
Music
- Music
- Carl W. Stalling
Animation
- Animator
- Irven 'Irv' Spence
Production notes
The first of many Tex Avery Warner Bros. spot-gag-filled parodies of travelogues (particularly those of James A. Fitzpatrick).
Bob Clampett said in an interview that he helped Tex Avery on the story, but took no credit for it.
In 1968, United Artists (then owners of the A.A.P. library of pre-1948 Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons) compiled the cartoons they considered too potentially offensive to be shown on television, and withheld those cartoons from distribution. AT that time, UA felt that these eleven cartoons should be withheld from broadcast because the depictions of black people in the cartoons were deemed too offensive for contemporary audiences.
This cartoon is one of those withheld from distribution, one of the so-called "Censored 11." (The "Eleven" are: Hittin' the Trail for Hallelujah Land (MM,1931), Sunday Go to Meetin' Time (MM, 1936), Clean Pastures (MM, 1937), Uncle Tom's Bungalow (MM, 1937), Jungle Jitters (1938), The Isle of Pingo Pongo (MM, 1938), All This and Rabbit Stew (MM, 1941), Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs (MM, 1943), Tin Pan Alley Cats (MM, 1943), Angel Puss (LT, 1944), and Goldilocks and the Jivin' Bears (MM, 1944)). More recently, when Ted Turner became owner of the library, he continued the ban, and refused to allow any of these cartoons to be shown or released on video. To date, these shorts have not been officially broadcast on television since 1968.
In September of 1943, beginning with A Feud There Was, Warner Bros. began re-releasing select color cartoons in their Blue Ribbon program. Typically the Blue Ribbon reissues received new opening sequences with Blue Ribbon title cards and standardized music. Cartoon production credits were also removed. Between ten and fifteen cartoons were released in any given year, with cartoons coming from as far back as 1935. The reissues continued until the close of the studio in the 1960's.
All Blue Ribbon cartoons were released as "Merrie Melodie" cartoons regardless of the original series. The first "Looney Tunes" short to be included in the Blue Ribbon series was The Hep Cat, which was added in 1949. The only current prints of many of these cartoons are the Blue Ribbon releases, although restoration of these cartoons with original elements and titles is always ongoing.
Songs include: "Minuet in G" (Beethoven), "Sweet Georgia Brown" (Ben Bernie-Kenneth Casey-Maceo Pinkard).
Bob Clampett said in an interview that he helped Tex Avery on the story, but took no credit for it.
In 1968, United Artists (then owners of the A.A.P. library of pre-1948 Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons) compiled the cartoons they considered too potentially offensive to be shown on television, and withheld those cartoons from distribution. AT that time, UA felt that these eleven cartoons should be withheld from broadcast because the depictions of black people in the cartoons were deemed too offensive for contemporary audiences.
This cartoon is one of those withheld from distribution, one of the so-called "Censored 11." (The "Eleven" are: Hittin' the Trail for Hallelujah Land (MM,1931), Sunday Go to Meetin' Time (MM, 1936), Clean Pastures (MM, 1937), Uncle Tom's Bungalow (MM, 1937), Jungle Jitters (1938), The Isle of Pingo Pongo (MM, 1938), All This and Rabbit Stew (MM, 1941), Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs (MM, 1943), Tin Pan Alley Cats (MM, 1943), Angel Puss (LT, 1944), and Goldilocks and the Jivin' Bears (MM, 1944)). More recently, when Ted Turner became owner of the library, he continued the ban, and refused to allow any of these cartoons to be shown or released on video. To date, these shorts have not been officially broadcast on television since 1968.
In September of 1943, beginning with A Feud There Was, Warner Bros. began re-releasing select color cartoons in their Blue Ribbon program. Typically the Blue Ribbon reissues received new opening sequences with Blue Ribbon title cards and standardized music. Cartoon production credits were also removed. Between ten and fifteen cartoons were released in any given year, with cartoons coming from as far back as 1935. The reissues continued until the close of the studio in the 1960's.
All Blue Ribbon cartoons were released as "Merrie Melodie" cartoons regardless of the original series. The first "Looney Tunes" short to be included in the Blue Ribbon series was The Hep Cat, which was added in 1949. The only current prints of many of these cartoons are the Blue Ribbon releases, although restoration of these cartoons with original elements and titles is always ongoing.
Songs include: "Minuet in G" (Beethoven), "Sweet Georgia Brown" (Ben Bernie-Kenneth Casey-Maceo Pinkard).
