And now for the most interesting year so far! You'll see why...

Mr. and Mrs. Is the Name
Directed by Isadore Freleng
Two little merpeople (sometimes thought to be the very similarly designed Buddy and Cookie — if that's the case, this is their only color appearance) find a sunken ship with a treasure chest on it and have fun. But then an octopus starts chasing them. A cute, somewhat Disney-esque cartoon, but there's also some wilder animation, especially for a singing crab. I may prefer my Merrie Melodies a little wackier, but this is definitely one of the better in this style.
8.5

Country Boy
Directed by Isadore Freleng
A little rabbit called Peter decides to break into a garden instead of going to school. But things don't go as well as he thought. Another cartoon that's not really focused on being funny, and you could even say it's a rare WB cartoon with a moral. But it's enjoyable for what it is (despite the ending being a bit weak), and the title tune, sung here as "Naughty Boy" by three rabbits, is quite a nice one.
8

I Haven't Got a Hat
Directed by Isadore Freleng
Just short of 100 entries into the series, we get the debut of the first character who would become more than a footnote in cartoon history – Porky Pig! The kids at a school are giving a benefit performance. The great thing about the new group of characters is that they all have distinct personalities or traits – Porky stutters a lot but bravely struggles through his recital, Little Kitty (who I think surprisingly has the funniest part here) is very timid, Ham and Ex are identical twins both in looks and voice (except one of them can switch to a very deep voice at will), Oliver Owl is a musical prodigy but slightly arrogant, and Beans the Cat is a troublemaker (similar both in design, and at this point, personality to the earlier Wilbur, but thankfully less annoying). The use of these very distinct characters makes the gags work better than with the admittedly unremarkable characters a lot of cartoons had in the early days. Considering the effect this cartoon (or at least one of the characters) would have on the whole series, it's impossible to look at it as just one short out of many, but I think even ignoring what would become of Porky, this is one of, if not the most entertaining WB cartoon so far. And so we have another first:
10

Buddy's Pony Express
Directed by Ben Hardaway
But despite the introduction of new potential stars, we'll still be stuck with Buddy as the Looney Tunes lead for a while. Showing that Schlesinger and WB may still have placed their bets on the wrong horse, Buddy and Cookie get yet another redesign – the former is now wearing a hat, while the latter is dressed in a flapper style, with both having slighty smaller eyes too. As for the cartoon itself, it's at least a fast-paced and fun one. Buddy owns the fastest horse in town, so he naturally wants to participate in a pony express race. A villain replaces his horse with a nag from the glue factory, and when even this doesn't seem to work, keeps sabotaging him in other ways. Hardaway is often great at making the Buddy cartoons fun despite the mediocre lead.
8.5

Buddy's Theatre
Directed by Ben Hardaway
Buddy runs a movie theater and shows the audience newsreels, trailers and a film starring Cookie (who's probably more popular here than she ever was among real audiences). Unsurprisingly, it's rather similar to "Bosko's Picture Show". Not as good as that one, but still a decent effort with enough new gags for it to be enjoyable.
7.5

Buddy of the Legion
Directed by Ben Hardaway
Working in a book shop, Buddy dreams he's leading the French foreign legion through a desert. The rest of the legion is lured to be slaves for the Amazons, so Buddy has to save them. Watchable but unremarkable short, not as good as the similarly-themed "Beau Bosko" was.
7

Along Flirtation Walk
Directed by Isadore Freleng
The chickens from Plymouth Rock College and Rhode Island Reds University have an egg laying contest. Plymouth Rock struggles badly, not helped by the other team's cheating tactics. Will they be able to win against the odds? A fun cartoon with more gags than usual for the Merrie Melodies of the time – I think we're starting to see them moving further to comedy from the earlier musical approach... One of the best sport-themed cartoons so far, even if it's about a chicken sport rather than an actual human one.
8.5

My Green Fedora
Directed by Isadore Freleng
For the first time since Goopy Geer in the Harman-Ising days, we get a returning character in the Merrie Melodies series! Peter the Rabbit from "Country Boy" is back, which I would never have expected. He has to watch his annoying baby brother Elmer. After Peter's attempts to entertain Elmer fail, he leaves, only to come back and find the baby gone. He has to save him from being eaten by a weasel. At first glance, this is one of those very cutesy cartoons from the era, but it ends up being quite fun, with some chase scenes and impressive animation. And one of the catchiest title tunes, too!
9

Buddy's Lost World
Directed by Jack King
Considering how popular themes prehistoric times and dinosaurs have always been in cartoons, I'm surprised it took this long for the Looney Tunes to get into them. Captain Buddy and his dog Bozo find the lost world, with dinosaurs, a man who acts like a dog, cannibals... The lead duo keeps getting into trouble, but thankfully there's someone to save them. The weakest part of this cartoon is unsurprisingly Buddy himself, otherwise it's a mildly entertaining entry.
7.5

Into Your Dance
Directed by Isadore Freleng
On Captain Benny's show boat, various acts perform. A quartet sings and tap dances to the title tune, followed by a wacky orchestral performance. But amateur hour after that proves to be a disaster with incompetent performers. This concept has been used many times before, but I think this is one of the best versions so far – the performances are funny, as are the reactions by the annoyed captain.
9

Buddy's Bug Hunt
Directed by Jack King
Buddy has a bug-house where he keeps insects (and for some reason frogs) he has collected. But he is knocked out by ether and the bugs turn the tables on him. Now he's tried in court for cruelty to the bugs he captured! The bugs are the stars here, especially the witnesses who speak in rhyme. The plot has been recycled many times in various series, but this is the first at least in this one. This is definitely one of Buddy's best, even if the ending is a little predictable. And notably, this is the first Warner Bros. cartoon to have an ACME product in it!
9

Buddy in Africa
Directed by Ben Hardaway
Variety store owner Buddy arrives to an African village called Snake-Eyes and sells various products to the natives, who then come up with interesting uses for them. But while trying to stop a monkey from stealing his health drinks ("Buddy's Bitters"), Buddy manages to anger its father. Far from one of the best in the series, but still watchable. The ending is a bit weird.
7

Country Mouse
Directed by Isadore Freleng
Country mouse Elmer (a common name in the series!) goes to the city to become boxing champion. But it won't be as easy as he thinks... Definitely an improvement over the previous boxing cartoon ("Battling Bosko") – there's a great scene where the fight is set to the tune of "La Cucaracha", combining the series' traditional musical approach with the later comedy. The start of the cartoon is a bit slow-paced and more typical of the time.
8

Trivia: In 1943, Schlesinger and WB realized they could reissue older cartoons in addition to releasing new ones. This resulted in the launch of the long-running Blue Ribbon program, which enabled people to see some of the older color cartoons in theaters again, but as a downside, the cartoons had their original title sequences and in some cases even scenes removed. "Country Mouse" was the earliest short to be included in this program.

Buddy Steps Out
Directed by Jack King
Buddy and Cookie go out, and Cookie's canary ends up getting in trouble. A photo of Buddy comes to life and tries to save it, with the help of an Atlas statue. I think combining the idea of things coming to life with an established character is interesting on paper, but sadly the cartoon wastes a lot of time on the typical dancing scenes, while the conflict is solved in a little over two minutes. Some cute moments, but at times, it feels even too saccharine. Not the character's finest hour.
6.5

The Merry Old Soul
Directed by I. Freleng
Old King Cole marries the Old Woman in the Shoe. But he ends up having to take care of a lot of babies – will he remain such a merry old soul? Another cartoon that I'd count in the "more cute than funny" category. The king having to take care of the babies is the main source of comedy here, but this is one of the shorts where it's hard to ignore the fact that the same thing has been done much more funnily later on.
7.5

Buddy the Gee Man
Directed by Jack King
With this cartoon, we say goodbye to Buddy who lasted surprisingly long for a character that never seems to have been that popular. Here he's a federal agent who has to investigate how prisoners are treated in Sing Song Prison. Not very well, he finds out, and suggests some changes! Buddy leaves us with one of his strongest shorts – plenty of punny names, good pacing, and the kind of plot that suits his character well.
8.5

The Lady in Red
Directed by I. Freleng
Cockroaches have fun in a Mexican store while the owner is away. They enjoy the food, sing and dance. However, a parrot then starts chasing them, and it's up to a male bug to save the beautiful "lady in red". While the style of the cartoon is pretty typical for the time, I think this is better than the average Merrie Melody – I've never seen cockroaches this cute, the Latin-style music is great and the ending gag could very well have been used even decades later! A charming one.
8.5

A Cartoonist's Nightmare
Directed by Jack King
And a character from "I Haven't Got a Hat" becomes the new Looney Tunes star... Beans the Cat, of course! An animator drawing a Beans cartoon falls asleep and has a nightmare where the various villains from his cartoons take revenge on him for his treatment of them. Beans has to save him. The series has had fourth wall breaking references to animation in previous cartoons (including in the pilot "Bosko the Talk-Ink Kid"), but I think this one does it best – we not only see the animator interacting with his character, but the other way around too. I bet the audience back then really got a kick out of this!
9

Little Dutch Plate
Directed by I. Freleng
A girl on the titular plate and a salt shaker boy are in love. But a vinegar bottle man threatens to ruin it all – if the girl can't pay the mortgage for the mill she lives in, she will either have to marry him or lose the mill. The boy tries to come up with a solution. Despite the beautiful animation, this felt like a very syrupy short at first, but thankfully it gets better. The ending is something I never expected on multiple levels!
8

Hollywood Capers
Directed by Jack King
Beans ("one of the Boston Beans") sneaks onto a movie set, to the annoyance of director Oliver Owl. He unintentionally causes a lot of chaos, including making Frankenstein's monster come to life! Most of the gang from "I Haven't Got a Hat" have roles here, including a small cameo from Porky working on the film. Another fun cartoon with the new star.
8.5

Gold Diggers of '49
Directed by Fred Avery
Beans finds gold in Red Gulch, and soon everyone goes there to dig for gold. But there's a villain planning to snatch all of it! Porky has his most significant appearance since his debut, now as an adult... and is portrayed as the father of Beans' girlfriend Little Kitty! Tex Avery's first short for WB is a fun one, very fast-paced with many gags. Signs of the things to come!
9

Billboard Frolics
Directed by I. Freleng
Characters on billboards, clothes and other random things come to life, sing and dance. Pretty much something we've seen many times already. The second half of the cartoon is better, as a chick from one of the billboards starts chasing a worm before getting chased by a cat. The catchy song "Merrily We Roll Along" is heard here both sung by Eddie Camphor and Rub-Em-Off and as background music – the first time we hear it, but definitely not the last! A fun entry despite some weaker parts.
8.5

We are such happy flowers...

Flowers for Madame
Directed by I. Freleng
The Merrie Melodies switch from two-color Technicolor to full color – and what better way to showcase this than with some beautiful, colorful flowers? All the flowers in the forest are having a flower pageant. But then a fire starts, and a cactus has to fight it! Even more than the other one-shots from this era, this feels more like a Disney short to me than what you'd expect from a WB cartoon, apart from some scenes, I guess (there's the often repeated gag of characters getting their butts burned). But I think the cute animation and characters make this a very charming short!
9

Over at MGM, Harman and Ising made two more cartoons with the former Looney Tunes star Bosko: "Hey-Hey Fever" and "Run Sheep, Run!" The former is more story-based than most of his WB cartoons, but not without the musical parts we've come to expect. The latter takes a more comedic and fast-paced approach (though the ten-minute duration includes a lot of repetition that could have been avoided), and redesigns Bosko to appear more realistic and childlike. By now, I think the new WB output is clearly superior to Harman-Ising's contemporary efforts, despite Bosko being a more interesting character than Buddy.

So now we've finally been introduced to the first truly legendary character in the series. The crew still seems to be convinced Beans is the character with the most star potential, but that will change soon.