Melissa Duck

Warner Bros. theatrical cartoon character

Melissa Duck is an animated cartoon character in Warner Bros.' Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoon series. She is the main character Daffy Duck's blonde girlfriend. Only in one cartoon is she called Melissa.

The 1945 cartoon Nasty Quacks was when Melissa was first introduced. She also plays Baby Melissa in Baby Looney Tunes.

In Nasty Quacks, Daffy's owner, a girl, also becomes the owner of a small, yellow duckling. A jealous Daffy feeds the duckling growth pills. To his surprise, she ages into a white and female duck with blonde hair. By the end of the cartoon, the two have fallen in love. Melissa gives birth to ten black, white and yellow ducklings of her own.

Melissa first appeared in adult form in a 1950 short, The Scarlet Pumpernickel. In the cartoon, she is the love interest of Daffy Duck and a damsel-in-distress. The plot follows Daffy saving Melissa from having to marry the evil Grand Duke, Sylvester the Cat.

Later in Muscle Tuscle (1953), the girlfriend of Daffy Duck appears with him on the beach. The girlfriend's design is a lot more stylized than Melissa's appearance in The Scarlet Pumpernickel. However, the comtemporary comics adaptation Muscle Tuscle also carried Melissa to this new design.

Another blonde female duck was shown in the 1987 cartoon movie The Duxorcist. This was after the original Looney Tunes ended in 1969.

Melissa Duck was the possible inspiration for Shirley the Loon ("McLoon is her family name). Shirley was on Tiny Toon Adventures.