Mel Sharples

Melvin Emory Sharples (commonly known as Mel) is a fictional character in the 1974 film Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore and the television sitcom series, Alice. The character was played by Vic Tayback, who reprised his movie role for the television show.

Melvin Emory Sharples was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. After a stint in the United States Navy, where he served primarily as a cook, he opened a diner at 1130 Bush Highway in Phoenix, Arizona, and called it Mel's Diner. (In a first season episode, it was stated to have been on 4th Street in Phoenix, but in later seasons it was generally accepted to have been located at 1130 Bush Highway.) He was known for wearing a grease spattered T-shirt and a sailor cap beanie when he was cooking, and he often also wielded a spatula.

The diner was best known for its 14 oz. cup of coffee (as its sign showed), and "Mel's Famous Chili". Although the diner established a loyal clientele, most notably Henry Beesmeyer, the running joke was that his food was awful. Also, at some points Mel could be incredibly stupid and somewhat ignorant.

Mel's frequent and numerous rivals in the restaurant business included Barney's Burger Barn and Benny's Beanery, where the food usually was better.

Mel has always had three waitresses working at the diner - his longest-employed waitress was rambunctious Florence Jean Castleberry, better known as Flo; Vera Louise Gorman-Novak, was a shy, nervous woman from Boston; and Alice Hyatt who was born in New Jersey.

After Flo moved back to Cowtown, Belle Dupree, a waitress he knew from when he first worked in restaurants, came to help out. Mel favored Belle for a couple episodes, but the favoritism was short lived; After Belle left for Nashville to embark on a music career, a former trucker from South Carolina, Jolene Hunnicutt came to work at the diner.

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