Melancholia Frump

Melancholia Frump is a minor character featured in the 1964-1966 television series The Addams Family. Played by actress Hazel Shermet, she appeared in episode 12 of season 1, "Morticia, the Matchmaker".

Biography
Melancholia Frump was the cousin of Morticia Addams and the niece of Hester Frump as well as the granddaughter-in-law of Grandmama Addams. In 1964, Melancholia was engaged to marry a man named Fred, but was heartbroken when Fred apparently ran off to join the Foreign Legion, even going so far as to take back the engagement ring. Lonely and depressed, she desperately sought for a man willing to marry her. One prospective husband, a man named Elmer never made it as far as the altar however and ran off to South America.

Melancholia took a taxicab to the Addams house and explained her woes to cousin Morticia. Morticia invited her cousin to stay with them for a while and had her butler Lurch prepare a room. Once she was out of sight, Morticia and her husband Gomez Addams began scheming to find Melancholia a man. Gomez called all of his business contacts, but none of them had any interest in entering into a romantic relationship with anyone associated with the Addams Family. Grandmama Addams tried to make Melancholia more desirable by sprinkling her with a double dose of her special love dust.

Morticia and Gomez soon learned that one of their lawyers, Charles P. Harvey, was a bachelor and was on his way to the Addams house to broker a real estate contract. The two saw this as a perfect opportunity to find Melancholia a husband - regardless of whether Harvey was receptive to the idea or not.

Morticia took Melancholia up to her room where she prepared her for her pending nuptials. She gave her a makeover and even lended her one of her own trademark black dresses. Harvey arrived at the house unaware that he was being set up. When he saw Melancholia with her new makeover, he grew instantly uncomfortable and tried to find an excuse to leave. Grandmama repeatedly dosed Harvey with her love dust, but it had no affect on him. Melancholia was determined however and refused to let him get away from her.

As luck would have it, Melancholia's ex-fiancé Fred arrived at the house. Their breakup was nothing but a great misunderstanding and he explained that he had actually joined the American Legion, not the Foreign Legion and the only reason he took the engagement ring back was because it was turning Melancholia's finger green. When he found his beloved in the company of another man however, Fred grew insanely jealous and punched Harvey across the nose. Reunited and once again in love, Melancholia and Fred leave the Addams house arm in arm.

Notes & Trivia

 * Melancholia's name is derived from the word melancholy, which means sad or depressed. Her last name is never revealed in the episode, but it is safe to assume that since she is unmarried that her last name is Frump, which is Morticia's maiden name.


 * Actress Hazel Shermet also played a character named Mrs. Knockwurst in the 1979 vampire comedy Love at First Bite. She was a woman in an elevator seen with Richard Benjamin's character Doctor Jeffrey Rosenberg.