Tex Avery pioneered the spot gag format in cartoons. These had no plot and were simply a series of sight gags centered around a theme with an offscreen narrator. Most of the spot gag cartoons he did were parodies of travelogues and wildlife documentaries. It can be arguably said that he also pioneered "mockumentaries" as we know them today. THE ISLE OF PINGO PONGO was the first spot gag short that was done. Tex cited the Fitzpatrick travelogues of the material he parodied. This was a film series that showcased the culture of a people in a faraway land. Documentaries like these tended to speak condescendingly of the cultures discussed. And that dismissive tone carries over into this short. While the island culture depicted is fictitious (given the deliberate geographic errors for comic effect), they do represent how America perceived "natives" in other lands in this era. This has made it unsuitable for broadcast/video release in recent decades. Although, with the advent of the internet, this short is now easily accessible. I found it unusual that the animation is lacking on this short. It doesn't look as smooth as the kinetic animation from Avery's cartoons released this same year. The one redeeming quality that this short has is the swinging rendition of Sweet Georgia Brown. Other than that, Avery's better travelogue parodies are DETOURING AMERICA (1939) and CROSS COUNTRY DETOURS (1940).

This is another of the "Censored 11" Warner Bros. cartoons that will probably never be seen on commercial television again. It starts harmless enough with various spot gags about the Sandwich Island (shaped like a...well, you know), as well as the Thousand Island (with a giant bottle of the salad dressing on board). There's also various birds represented such as a Mockingbird (who mocks everything the announcer says). Then there are various scenes with the natives who are portrayed here in animated form as black with white lips. As demeaning as these stereotypes are, they do provide some entertaining musical moments singing "Sweet Georgia Brown" and "She'll Be Comin' Round the Mountain", the last number in a Country-Western vibe. Then there's the running gag of Egghead (precursor of Elmer Fudd) asking the off-screen announcer, "Now, boss?" with the boss saying, "Not yet." When that boss finally gives his approval at the end, Egghead provides the short's topper. Since this was directed by Tex Avery, I do recommend The Isle of Pingo Pongo. Just be aware of the political incorrectness that pervades the last few minutes...

Many of Tex Avery's cartoons at Warner Bros were parodies of the short subjects that (in those days) were screened during a trip to the movies before the main feature. 'The Isle of Pingo Pongo' is a parody of travelogue movies: specifically, the 'Going Places' shorts that Lowell Thomas narrated for Universal. Since modern viewers of this toon are unlikely to be familiar with the original material being parodied, a large amount of the humour is lost.There are also references in this 1938 cartoon to other cultural fixtures of that time, such as the then-popular 'Life Goes to a Party' feature in Henry Luce's weekly magazine, and the wildlife documentaries of Martin and Osa Johnson. Perceptive modern viewers will sense that something is being guyed here, but will be frustrated because they probably don't know the source material.Some of the material here is worse than it needed to be. There's a rather strained gag, depicting a ship taking a circuitous route across a map of the world from the United States to Africa. But the gag is not made funnier by the map's gross inaccuracy. Would it have hurt Leon Schlesinger's production schedule to include an accurate map of the world in that shot? This cartoon has provoked some controversy for racist content. Sure enough, we get the usual dumb jokes about African natives with pneumatic lips and bones in their topknots. I found the jokes mostly so weak that they aren't malicious, but also so weak that they aren't funny. What did offend me here was the narrator's continuous referrals to these African caricatures as 'savages' and 'aborigines'.Even some brilliant Warners toons are seriously weakened by bad running gags ending in limp finishes: a classic example of this problem is 'The Dover Boys', featuring innovative animation, a clever and unusual premise, but an incredibly bad running gag leading into a weak fade-out. Here in 'The Isle of Pingo Pongo' we seem to have one more example of that same problem, with Egghead (Tex Avery's proto-Elmer Fudd character) periodically showing up with a violin case and asking the unseen narrator 'Now, boss?'. 'Not yet!' the narrator tells him each time. I had very low expectations for a funny pay-off gag, but I was pleasantly surprised.Lowell Thomas's travelogues always ended in a deep cliché of his own creation: "And so, as the sun sinks slowly in the west, we bid a fond farewell to...". My former mother-in-law recalled for me that, as a moviegoer in the 1930s, she would hear members of the audience reciting these overly-familiar words along with Thomas's narration. In the last few seconds of its screen time, 'The Isle of Pingo Pongo' goes a considerable distance towards redeeming itself with a juicy parody of Thomas's sign-off, giving Egghead a closing gag that turns out to be surprisingly very funny indeed.Unfortunately, modern viewers who aren't familiar with the clichés being parodied here won't get the full effect of the good jokes, but WILL get the full effect of the racial stereotyping. Under the circumstances, my rating for this bad 'un is just 3 out of 10.

This short is the first of several spoofs of the travelogue shorts popular at the time that showcased exotic locales for movie audiences. While a good cartoon, not on a par with later ones such as Detouring America or Crazy Cruise. Avery was still finding his range on the material. Still some good stuff here anyway. This one features Egghead in a running gag that has a funny finish. Enjoyable and entertaining, it's well worth hunting down. Recommended