This is one of the last cartoon shorts directed by Tex Avery before he left Merrie Melodies (Warner Brothers) and had a much more successful career with MGM. And considering the dubious quality of the material with "Aviation Vacation", it was a good decision! The first 2/3 of this cartoon is a very innocuous little cartoon--not particularly funny but on par with the sorts of shorts they were making before the studio really hit their stride with cartoons. It tries very hard to be a funny documentary about airplanes but most of the jokes fall pretty flat. At this point, I was very curious why the short has been shelved by Warner Brothers. However, at the five minute mark...WOW! This portion of the film was set in Africa and the natives all are the sorts of stereotypes that make folks cringe today--bones through the noses, huge lips and the like. It was embarrassing and sad...and not one bit funny. Combine that with the rest of the cartoon and I feel it is no great loss that this one was shelved. But, if you are curious, it can be downloaded for free at archive.org. Sad.
Review of Aviation Vacation
