The Isle of Pingo Pongo

The Isle of Pingo Pongo is a 1938 Merrie Melodies short directed by Fred Avery.
== Plot ==
A cruise ship's trip from New York starts departing to the island of Pingo-Pongo, presumably located in the South Seas. The ship sails past the Statue of Liberty, who acts as a traffic cop, past the "Canary Islands" and "Sandwich Islands," to the remote island. The inhabitants are mostly tall, black, and have big feet and lips. They at first play drums, then break into a jazz beat, still described as a "primitive savage rhythm."
A running gag including Elmer Fudd runs a few times.
== Caricatures ==
* Tony Labriola - "Oh, yeah"
* Fats Waller
* The Mills Brothers
== Notes ==
* This is the first cartoon to use the name Elmer Fudd, although it only uses "Elmer" on the lobby card. The first cartoon to use the name in the actual short subject is "A Feud There Was".
* The short was banned from syndication in the United States by United Artists in 1968. Ten other Warner Bros. shorts were also banned, dubbing the banned collection the Censored Eleven. This ban has been upheld by the cartoon's successive owners, however, as The New York Times reports,Cartoons of a Racist Past Lurk on YouTube http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/28/business/media/28cartoon.html unauthorized copies are relatively easy to find.
** It is also the 6th cartoon of the Censored Eleven.
* Unusual for most releases from this era, the original credits show up while the Merrie Melodies theme is playing. Thus, there is no extended title cue to go along with the titles. Rather, the narrator says "Pingo Pongo, the pearl of the Oyster Island." After this, the cartoon fades into where the Blue Ribbon reissue started. In the reissue, the first sentence is excised entirely."The Isle Of Pingo Pongo" (1938) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h98ImdTlQh4
* The Baby Bird crying out for his mother gag from this cartoon was later recycled in the record, Porky Pig in Africa.
* Additionally, the short was viewed with seven films part of the Censored Eleven at the TCM Film Festival in Hollywood on 24 April 2010 as part of a classic film series, presented by Donald Bogle. It is unknown if the original titles have been restored for the future DVD release. The release has yet to come, but Jerry Beck has said that transfers are done with a few extra banned films owned by WarnerMedia. However, around August 2016, Jerry Beck said that Warner Bros. was not going to release their Censored 11 DVD until their DVD market goes up in sales again.
* This is the final Warner Bros. cartoon to use the byline "RELEASED BY WARNER BROS. PRODUCTIONS CORP" in the ending titles. Also, this is the final Merrie Melodies of the 1937-38 season to use the early variant of the closing titles. A second variant was created to reflect the byline change of "RELEASED BY WARNER BROS. PICTURES INC".
== Gallery ==
Screenshot 20210525-142006.png
DSrm0XOXcAAPfHk.jpg|Production cel with a production background from "Daffy Duck & Egghead"
Pingo 2.jpg
Osle-pingo-pongo-lobby600.jpg|Lobby card
== References ==
 
Category:Merrie Melodies Shorts
Category:Cartoons directed by Tex Avery
Category:Elmer Fudd Cartoons
Category:Spot Gag Cartoons
Category:Shorts
Category:Featured Media
Category:1938
Category:Blue Ribbon reissues
Category:Plagiarized Pages
Category:Cartoons written by George Manuell
Category:Cartoons with music by Carl W. Stalling
Category:Cartoons with film editing by Treg Brown
Category:Cartoons with sound effects edited by Treg Brown
Category:Cartoons with orchestrations by Milt Franklyn
Category:Cartoons with characters voiced by Mel Blanc
Category:Cartoons produced by Leon Schlesinger
Category:Cartoons in a.a.p. package
Category:Re-released cartoons whose original titles are known to exist