Henry Beesmeyer

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Henry Beesmeyer was a fictional character in the television series Alice. He was played by actor Marvin Kaplan.

[edit] The Pride of the Bell System

Henry, a telephone company worker, ostensibly for Phoenix's real-life telephone company, the company now called Qwest, but that was never made totally clear, was one of the most regular customers at Mel's Diner. He was always there, come rain or shine!

As such, he was close to the owner, Mel Sharples; and his waitresses, Alice Hyatt, Vera Louise Gorman-Novak, Florence Jean Castleberry, Belle Dupree and Jolene Hunnicutt.

His main complaint in life was his wife, Chloe, as he would often go into Mel's, eat breakfast, or whatever meal, and complain about her. From the sounds of things, she was a real handful!

Chloe was often mentioned but usually never seen. (She did appear once, played to the hilt, by actress Ruth Buzzi.) That time was during a misunderstanding, dealing with his so-called "feelings" for Alice, but it took Alice to calm Chloe down! Henry thought Chloe was having an affair and he retaliated by saying that he had an affair with Alice, which explained the misunderstanding. However, he and Chloe had twins, Lew and Lola.

Although he would much rather eat at other places, where the food was better, he stayed at Mel's, out of sheer loyalty. Although he was quite loyal to Mel, the two did have arguments, especially when Mel called him names. He was often called "Blabbermouth!" His answer to that scurrulous insult? "Yes, but I'm a proud blabbermouth!"

The episode where he was called Blabbermouth, was when a former friend of Vera's, and later her fiance, Steve Marsh (who was played by Linda Lavin's second husband, Kip Niven) had come to pay Mel $50 for a bounced check; and Mel wasn't about to pay hsi waitresses for cleaning his apartment. Henry blabbed all to Vera, Jolene and Alice, who used blackmail (namely Alice grabbing his little black book) to get their due from the conniving Mel.