The Weakly Reporter

Infobox Hollywood cartoon
cartoon_name = The Weakly Reporter
series = Merrie Melodies


caption =
director = Charles M. Jones
story_artist = Michael Maltese
animator = Ben Washam
voice_actor = Mel Blanc Bea Benaderet
musician = Carl W. Stalling
producer = Leon Schlesinger
studio = Leon Schlesinger Productions
distributor = Warner Bros. Pictures
The Vitaphone Corporation
release_date = flagicon|USA March 26, 1944
color_process = Technicolor
runtime = 7 minutes (one reel)
preceded_by =
followed_by =
movie_language = English
imdb_id = 0037450

"The Weakly Reporter" is a Warner Bros. cartoon released on March 25, 1944. Directed by Chuck Jones, written by Michael Maltese, and with music directed by Carl Stalling, this cartoon is a spoof of sacrifices made by those on the homefront during World War II.

Outline

Its opening sequence is set to "My Country, 'Tis Of Thee" and shows the Statue of Liberty and the presidents of Mt. Rushmore in wartime garb, such as air raid wardens and civil defense personnel.

The second sequence, to the tune of "California, Here I Come", states that Florida loves California "for the duration". Several scenes following, set to the tune of "In My Merry Oldsmobile", deal with the lack of automobile traffic.

To the tune of "Memories", a scene shows a pair of armored car guards carrying a pound of butter, while the next scene shows a lady at a butcher shop asking if the butcher has Porterhouse steak. The butcher replies, "We certainly do, lady" and allows the lady to sniff the beef, then charges her $1.19 for the privilege of sniffing.

The cartoon then switches to a man tossing and turning in bed and, to the tune of "A Cup Of Coffee, A Sandwich And You", discusses the rationing of coffee, both before and after rationing. The sequence after that deals with hoarding, and to the tune of "Yankee Doodle", says about war bonds, "You can't hoard too many of these!" Following sequences deal with feminine intrigue as well as women joining the Army.

The cartoon closes with scenes dealing with factory workers building ships, planes and guns faster than they had ever been built before.

The closing scene shows a formally-dressed man standing with a woman (who is holding a bottle of champagne) at an empty dry dock, ready to launch a ship. The woman asks the man, "But, where's the boat?" The man replies, "Just start swinging, lady!" As she swings the bottle of champagne, the ship rises out of nowhere, gets struck by the bottle and launches. The cartoon fades to a shack marked "Henry J. Kaiser - Private", and underneath on the doorknob hung a sign reading "Back in 2 minutes - out to launch".