How To Steal Scenes, by James Whitmore

This page uses shots from the 1954 film THEM to illustrate how James

Anim8rFSK...

LOL, good point; it might at least explain Popeye.

Whitmore uses scene-stealing techniques to make sure the viewer's eyes
are always on him:

Jim Beaver...

Apparently, according to this site, any time an actor moves, he's stealing
focus (most actors of my acquaintance call it that instead of
scene-stealing). And we're trained, by the way, to keep in view of the
camera in most cases. Doing so is hardly scene-stealing. Not to mention,
it's hard not to steal the scene when you're in the foreground of the shot.
Gimme a break.

moviePig...

It did occur to me that if every other character were always required
to remain fixed and "pointing" dog-like to the speaking character, then
the result would more resemble a tableau... or co-anchors on the
evening news...

Jim Beaver

Lord Buckeye...

Amazing. In later years he used giant fake eyebrows as a prop.

moviePig...

I wonder if it's relevant to consider whether the movie suffered or
benefited...

Frank R.A.J. Maloney...

At this point, I'm going to assume that the director would have called him
on it if it had been bad for the scene itself.

Dave in Toronto...

Directors often tell actors in the background to do some stuff so that
the scene doesn't get too static. I remember one fiesty veteran
character actor being interviewd and telling how he got teed off when
his young director said "When you go over to the window just do
something, anything while you're there". The actor said "Look this is
your picture. You tell me what you want to do and I'll do it to the
best my ability. I don't do ad-libs."

Dave in Toronto

The Starmaker...

Most actors
when they get in front of a camera, simply
don't know.. WHAT TO DO WITH THEIR HANDS!

Unless of course it's in the script.

moviePig...

...not to mention have made it hard for Whitmore to get work (...in
which case we'd likely not be discussing him today).