Chew the Scenery - Theatre Etymology - Part 13

If a person is known to chew the scenery, that doesn't mean that the person is like Cookie Monster, who will eat anything, and actually eats the scenery. Instead, it means to overact or to act melodramatically. Depending on the context of the phrase, it can have a positive or negative meaning.

An actor may perform so well that he was said to chew the scenery because while everything else and all the actors supported the actor, the actor managed to shine and not take away from any of the support. It is just that the actor was extremely impressive. However, an actor might also chew the scenery if he overacts and takes away from the other performers and the tehcnical effects.

Most sources seem to cite that the phrase comes from a 1930 article by Dorothy Parker in which she wrote, "more glutton than artist . . . he commences to chew up the scenery." However, there are earlier evidences of the phrase being used. The first printed occurance of the phrase seems to be from March 1, 1891 in Rocky Mountain News. It read, "The Antony of Mons. Dermont was quite devoid of dignity and real force. He was inclined to 'chew scenery.'" This was part of a review of Cleopatra by Vicorien Saroud that starred Sarah Bernhardt and took place in New York. The next occurance of the phrase seems to be from 1894 from the novel Coeur D'Alene by Mary Hallock Foote. She wrote, "Lads, did ye hear him chewin' the scenery, giving' himself away like a play-actor? 'I'm not what ye think I am', says he. 'I'm in a cruel, equizzical position.'...You can't make evidence out of such rot as he was talkin', ...a young fella turning his chin loose about his mash! He chins wid us, an' listens to our talk, but he's too fancy for a miner. He's a bird, he's a swell, and makes out he's a workin'man like the rest av us."

The word chew seems to come from the Old English world ceown when comes from the West Germnic word keuwwan which comes from the Dutch word kauwen. However, it may lso comes from the Old High Germn wsord kiuwan (or German word kauen) which comes from the proto-Indo-European root gyeu, meaning to chew, the Salvonic word živomeaning to chew, the Lithuanian word žiaunos meaning jaws, or the Persian word javidan meaning to chew. The word scenery seems to come directly from the Italian word scenario, being adapted into English as scenery for the set of a theatrical play. There is no exact record of why an actor may "chew the scenery," but it is thought that the phrase may have originated by people saying that an actor did everything but chew the scenery in order to get attention.

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