Vera Louise Gorman-Novak

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Vera Louise Gorman-Novak was a fictional character in the long-running television series Alice. She was played by actress Beth Howland.

[edit] The "Dingy"

Vera was the only original waitress besides Alice that lasted all of the show's run. She was born in New England, it was rumored to be in Boston, and moved to Phoenix, Arizona, some time before the series began.

She was often remembered for her shy and quiet nature, as well as her clumsiness. She is an ardent animal and nature lover, with several pets, most notably, hamsters Harold and Mitzi. Through the series' nine year run, she also mentioned her goldfish named Starsky and Hutch and towards the end of the series, a cat named Mel.

Vera's cousin, at least on the show, is actor Art Carney. She clearly loved her co-workers, notably Alice Hyatt and Florence Jean Castleberry. Later the series shows Vera and Jolene Hunnicutt in a close friendship also. Vera also had a fondness for Alice's son, Tommy Hyatt whom she called "Toms". She also got along well with Mel Sharples's mother, Carrie Sharples.

Her relationship with Mel was hard to figure out. During the first season, Mel referred to Vera as "the Banana"; the catchphrase never really caught on and was dropped after only a few references. Sometimes, Vera and Mel would get along wonderfully, but Mel would also get angry with the very nervous Vera, and as the series evolved, often called her "Dingy". He explained to her once why she was called "Dingy". "It's a lot nicer than calling you a stupid broad!"

Vera tends to be very emotional and when someone really hurts her feelings, she would start crying. A prime example of this was when Randolph Briggs, (played by Hans Conreid) a strict no-nonsense chef who bought the diner from Mel, fired Vera for the petty reason that she messed up an order! At Mel's Diner, messed up orders were commonplace, and not just with Vera.

One time, Vera thought that she wasn't attractive enough, and so she enlisted the help of fellow waitress, Belle Dupree, who taught the shy, awkward Vera to "move, like the waves in the ocean." It was an attempt by the writers to develop Belle's character as much as Vera's.

Belle also came to Vera's aid when Mel was intent on cutting down a tree near the diner property. Nature loving Vera chained herself to the tree, convincing Alice and Belle to help her, along with the construction workers who were moved by their plight. Furious at this, Mel decided to take matters into his own hands, and cut the tree down himself. It crashed through the Diner roof, driving Mel into an absolute frenzy. He did, however, make up for it, by buying Vera a new tree to replace the old one.

As time went on, Vera's character became stronger. The character developed from being plain stupid and clumsy to a somewhat more sophisticated Vera that saw things from a unique perspective and was not always able to relate to the rest of the world. She always seemed to date fairly regularly, sometimes more successfully than others, and once even dated Mel in the fifth season, which was a major disaster. Then, out of the blue, true love came to Vera Louise Gorman in the person of policeman Elliot Novak.

Elliot first met Vera when he ticketed her for jaywalking. (Vera and Elliot planned on reacting the jaywalking scene a year later to celebrate their first wedding anniversary.) They fell in love at first sight, and soon got married, despite Mel almost blundering the wedding, which earned him the wrath of both Alice and Jolene. The wedding 2-part episodes were classics and were well done.

After marrying, Elliot and Vera moved into a huge house with the two of them and Vera's pets. Two different episodes feature Vera's wizened former landlady Debbie Walden (also played by Linda Lavin), and the often forgetful pastor who married them, moving in and taking over.

When the last episode aired, it was discovered that Vera was going to have her first child, which, she said, if it were a boy, would be named after Mel. Which was good, since the diner was shutting down for good and Mel was selling out. This way, Vera would be able to become a full time mother and Elliot would be the breadwinner.