Alice is an American sitcom television series that aired on CBS from August 31, 1976, to March 19, 1985. The series is based on director Martin Scorsese's 1974 film Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore. The show stars Linda Lavin as Alice Hyatt, a widow who moves with her young son to start life over again and finds a job working at a roadside diner in Phoenix, Arizona. Most of the episodes revolve around events at Mel's Diner, where Alice is employed.
With more than 200 episodes over nine seasons, Alice was the longest-running American television sitcom to feature a woman in the starring role until it was surpassed by Roseanne in 1996.
Series summary After her husband Donald is killed in a trucking accident, Alice Spivak Hyatt (Lavin) and her young son Tommy (played by Alfred Lutter in the television pilot, reprising his role from the film, but portrayed by Philip McKeon thereafter) head from their New Jersey home to Los Angeles so Alice can pursue a singing career. Her car breaks down in Phoenix, and viewers meet her soon after she has taken a job as a waitress at Mel's Diner. (The later seasons' exterior shots were of a real diner, named Mel's, still in operation in Phoenix.) Alice works alongside Mel Sharples (Vic Tayback), the grouchy, stingy owner and cook of the greasy spoon, and fellow waitresses and friends, sassy, man-hungry Florence Jean "Flo" Castleberry (Polly Holliday), and neurotic, scatterbrained Vera Louise Gorman (Beth Howland).
Most scenes took place inside the diner, or less often in Alice's one-bedroom apartment in the Desert Sun apartment complex. Vera and Mel's studio apartments and Flo's trailer were occasionally seen. Two of the diner's biggest competitors – Barney's Burger Barn and Vinnie's House of Veal – were sometimes mentioned.
The diner had regular customers through the years, such as Tommy's basketball coach Earl Hicks (Dave Madden), local trucker Chuck (played by Duane R. Campbell), and Henry Beesmeyer (Marvin Kaplan), a telephone repairman who always joked about Mel's cooking. Henry's oft-mentioned wife Chloe was seen in one episode, played by Ruth Buzzi. Celebrities playing either themselves or other characters (including Martha Raye as Mel's free-spirited mother, George Burns, Robert Goulet, Art Carney, Desi Arnaz, Jerry Reed, and Telly Savalas) were a hallmark of the show.
Polly Holliday left the show to star in her own spin-off series, Flo. In the episode airing February 24, 1980, Flo leaves to take a hostess job in Houston. On the way to Houston, Flo stops at her hometown, Fort Worth, Texas (which she refers to by its moniker "Cowtown"). Flo decides to buy and run a failing roadhouse bar there, which she renames Flo's Yellow Rose. Polly Holliday never made a guest appearance on Alice after beginning Flo (flashbacks including Flo were shown in the final episode of Alice). Vic Tayback made one guest appearance on Flo.
Diane Ladd, who received an Academy Award nomination for her portrayal of Flo in the film version, joined the cast in 1980 as Isabelle "Belle" Dupree, a hard-edged but kind-hearted woman. She had been a waitress of Mel's in the past, during which the two had a romantic relationship. Despite Ladd's Golden Globe-winning performance as Belle, the character was not retained for the duration of the series and was replaced early in 1981, the character making one last appearance in which she telephones the diner to inform everyone that she had taken a job as a backup singer in Nashville, Tennessee. Ladd left the $400,000 yearly job, saying it was an amicable and mutual decision, because her character hadn't developed the way she had hoped it would.
Theatre actress Celia Weston then joined the cast as the good-natured, boisterous truck driver Jolene Hunnicutt, who came from Myrtle Point, South Carolina. Jolene arrives as she and her male driving partner are in the midst of an argument over his unwelcome advances, during which she throws and breaks many of Mel's dishes. Mel agrees to hire her "temporarily" to work off the cost of the dishes, but she stays until the end of the series. Jolene frequently mentions her grandmother, "Granny Gums", who had only three or four teeth. Jolene also mentions her distant relative Jefferson Davis "Boss" Hogg, a character from the concurrent CBS series and fellow Warner Brothers production The Dukes of Hazzard. In one episode Sorrell Booke guest stars as Hogg, along with fellow Dukes character Enos (Sonny Shroyer). Boss Hogg was related to Jolene because Jolene's "Granny Gums" was from his side of the family.
The latter years of the show focused on some character development, such as the hasty courtship and marriage of Vera and lovable cop Elliot (Charles Levin). Tommy eventually goes to college and is seen less frequently. In the final season, the character of Alice was absent several times due to Lavin directing a number of episodes and playing the character of Mrs. Walden, Vera's wizened, abrasive landlady of arbitrary foreign origin, in two episodes. The final story arc began in the spring of 1985, when Steve Marsh's country singer cousin Travis Marsh (played by Lavin's real-life husband Kip Niven), discovering that he is falling for Alice, "kidnaps" her to take her to Nashville, telling her it is time to follow her dream there. Bewildered at the thought of her dreams finally coming true, Alice agrees, but not without extracting a promise from Travis to drive her back to Phoenix so she can get her affairs in order, including ending her current relationship with a writer.
In the series finale, which aired March 19, 1985, news of several life-changing events is revealed within a matter of minutes, something typical of sitcoms of the era. After nine years of trying, Alice finally gets a recording contract and is moving to Nashville with Travis. Vera announces she is pregnant and decides to be a full-time mother, Elliott having been promoted from officer to detective. Jolene's "Granny Gums" dies and leaves her enough money to open her own beauty parlor in her hometown. Besides all three waitresses suddenly leaving simultaneously, by an amazing coincidence Mel has just sold the diner for a large amount of money to a real-estate developer and must close within days. On closing day, he surprisingly gives each waitress a $5,000 farewell bonus. The remainder of the episode shows flashbacks to humorous and significant events, and many of the stars who had appeared on the show, including Polly Holliday. Belle (Diane Ladd) was not featured in any of the finale flashbacks. Finally, while cleaning out her locker, Alice finds the "Waitress Wanted" sign that first drew her to the diner. The series' regular customers, including Henry, Chuck, and Earl, say their emotional farewells, followed by Elliot, and finally the principal characters Tommy, Jolene, Vera, and Alice. The last thing we see is Mel putting up the "Closed" sign and locking up before leaving.
Running gags and catchphrases
Flo's catchphrase, "kiss my grits!" (typically directed at her boss, Mel), enjoyed widespread popularity at the time the character appeared on Alice. According to Polly Holliday, the line was originally written as "kiss my honeydew!", but did not get any laughs. (In the original film, Flo, as played by Diane Ladd, tells Mel in one scene to "Kiss me where the sun don't shine.") Another of Flo's catchphrases was "when donkeys fly!"
In an attempt to duplicate the success of Flo's "kiss my grits!", Belle began using a new put-down: "butter my biscuits!" Belle often used the phrase "my little voice", who called her "Isabelle", which she usually used when starting to tell others what she thinks is best.
Mel would snipe "stow it!" at anyone he had qualms with, especially his waitstaff. "Stow it!" was usually followed by either "Alice", "Vera", "Flo" "Belle", or "Blondie" (in reference to Jolene). He would also bark "bag it, Blondie!" to Jolene. He eventually gave Vera the nickname "Dingy" and would occasionally bellow "stow it, Dingy" at her. Jolene would sometimes say "when pigs wear perfume."
In a handful of episodes, Alice put on a double-breasted suit and fedora to assume the character of husky-voiced "Sam Butler", a mobster she made up as a ruse to fool her intended target (and in at least one episode, Vera also dresses up to become one of "Sam's" henchmen). Linda Lavin also played the role of Mrs. Walden in the last season, once even playing both Alice and Mrs. Walden in a split-screen dual role.
Parts of Mel's Diner were often destroyed, such as Flo's crashing a truck through the front, Mel chopping down a tree which landed on the diner, Mel accidentally having the building targeted for demolition, and the waitresses crashing a hot air balloon through the roof (upon which Jolene cries, "we went to the bad place and it looks just like Mel's!"). In one episode, a wrecking ball destroyed the front of the diner because someone could not read Mel's handwriting. In another, a group of men literally hoisted up the entire front of the diner with their bare hands.
Mel was a stickler for punctuality. In the fourth season, he installed a time clock, which ended up working to the waitresses' advantage due to significant overtime (since before then they were forced to clean the storage room on Sundays without extra pay), and he finally smashed it onto the floor. Mel also had a strict rule against moonlighting, often leading to one or more waitresses getting fired, but he always rehired them before the end of each episode.
Although he had a fairly loyal clientele, Mel's food and cooking were constantly criticized by his waitresses and customers alike —especially Henry, who always blamed it for his indigestion. However, Mel's chili con carne was popular and became a plot point of several episodes. During the first season, a newspaper food critic (played by Victor Buono) dropped dead while eating Mel's chili, but it turned out that tainted Peking Duck from a Chinese restaurant was to blame. Art Carney guest-starred in one episode as the spokesman for retail distribution of Mel's Chili ("Chili con Carney") who backed out when he discovered Vera was a distant relative with part ownership in the venture. The popularity of Mel's Chili also led to an appearance on Dinah Shore's talk show, which led to some bickering among the waitresses because Mel could take only one person along, but everyone ended up going. Mel refused to reveal his "secret ingredient" to Dinah and her TV audience during the cooking demonstration.
Cast of characters Main characters Opening title cast members: Linda Lavin as Alice Hyatt, an aspiring singer who becomes a waitress at Mel's diner. Vic Tayback as Melvin Emory "Mel" Sharples, the stingy and grouchy owner of Mel's Diner. He would often bark orders at the waitresses and come up with money-making schemes. Mel is often a terrible cook with his cooking criticized by the other characters as mentioned above. Tayback reprised his role from the film. Philip McKeon as Tommy Hyatt, the son of Alice. Alfred Lutter had reprised his role from the film, but was replaced by McKeon after the pilot episode Polly Holliday as Florence Jean "Flo" Castleberry, the boy-hungry waitress at Mel's diner (Seasons 1–4: 1976–1980) Beth Howland as Vera Louise Gorman Novak, the scatterbrained waitress at Mel's diner Diane Ladd as Isabelle "Belle" Dupree, an original waitress at Mel's diner who briefly returns to work there (Seasons 4–5: 1980–1981). Ladd played the role of Flo in the film. Celia Weston as Jolene Hunnicutt, a former truck driver who becomes a waitress at Mel's diner (Seasons 5–9: 1981–1985) Charles Levin as Elliot Novak, a police officer who Vera gets engaged to (Season 8 recurring, Season 9 regular: 1983–85)
Recurring characters Other recurring cast members are listed in order of appearance:
Pat Cranshaw as Andy, a diner regular (1976–1978) Tom Mahoney as Travis (1977)