#78 -- Muscle Tussle

Title - Muscle Tussle

Director - Bob McKimson

Released - 1953

Interesting Fact -- Daffy's girlfriend in this toon was not named, but would later be dubbed Melissa (this is the same name as Daffy's beloved in The Scarlet Pumpernickel, and would later be given to the Baby Daffy's counterpart on Baby Looney Tunes)

Reason for Placement --

Daffy takes his girl to the beach, but she ends up leaving him for a tall muscular duck instead.  A traveling salesmen offers to sell Daffy a bogus miracle serum that is "guaranteed" to give him strength.  Now believing that he is super-strong, Daffy challenges the muscular duck to a number of tests to see who is more worthy of the girl duck's attention.  

When Daffy was first created, he was crazy, zany, hyper, etc., but around the mid-1950s, the character was changed into the greedy, self-centered duck we know.  This is one of those rare toons where Daffy is neither crazy, nor greedy, he's just the protagonist.  But that doesn't stop him from taking his lumps from the bigger duck!