Born in Brooklyn, New York as Sidney Meltzer, he was the son of Isidor Meltzer, a Yiddish theater Comedian, and the brother of Screenwriter Lewis Meltzer. He made his stage debut in a 1939 touring production of See My Lawyer and in 1941 was cast as Fingers in Shadow of the Thin Man. During World War II Melton entertained American Soldiers overseas and met Screenwriter Aubrey Wisberg, who arranged for him to have a part in his Treasure of Monte Cristo for Robert Lippert. This was his first film after signing his first Hollywood contract with Lippert Pictures in 1949. The studio churned out low-budget films, most of them made in less than a week, and he was the comic relief in dozens of them, including Monte Cristo, Mask of the Dragon and Lost Continent.