Martian Schlepperman

Al Rose promises “a new kind of insane surrealism” in Krazy’s Race of Time (1937) but, instead, has a story that’s all over the place.

The first half is a March of Time parody with Billy Bletcher narrating. It starts off with gags about traffic jams, quickly moving into a futuristic scenario of 1999. Then the second half starts with Krazy Kat mixing formulas, then being shoved into a rocket for Mars, and after coping with a giant there, races (presumably) back to Earth and the cartoon ends.

One scene that’s imaginative is a greeting by two Martians, but even it begins safely with a Schlepperman parody, as one says to the other “Hi, Stranger!” (Schlepperman’s catchphrase on the Jack Benny radio show and elsewhere). One removes his hat to the other, but the hat goes into a hole in his head. Then they greet each other by putting a foot in the mouth while the other slaps it. The scene is capped by the two going through each other and on their way out of the cartoon.



Harry Love gets an animation credit (on the Samba re-issue) with Joe De Nat supplying the score. There is no director credit.