The Pitcher Shower
Encyclopedia
The Pitcher Shower is a novel by Donald Harington
set in the Arkansas
part of the Ozarks in fictional towns near the fictional town of Stay More, the setting for Harington's other novels. The main character drives from town to town showing movies or "pitchers" (so he is a "pitcher shower") on improvised screens outdoors.
. He proves to be a seventeen-year-old girl, Sharline Whitlow.
In the following town, Hoppy and Sharline meet Emmett Binns, an itinerant evangelist
who had once tried to molest Sharline. Sharline and Hoppy begin a sexual relationship. Despite tension with Binns, Hoppy treats him to some moonshine
whiskey and shows Binns his pornographic movie, and later that night Binns is arrested for assaulting an underage girl.
In the next town, Hoppy finds that his movies are missing. He blames Binns and starts a search with the cooperation of his handsome and charming friend Arlis Faught. Hoppy buys the only movie he can: the 1935 version of A Midsummer Night's Dream
. The film fascinates Arlis and Sharline. The next day Hoppy happens to see Arlis and Sharline having sex in the woods.
Later, while Arlis and Sharline are together, Arlis's frustrated girlfriend Helen Milsap visits Hoppy. They share moonshine that Hoppy got from a "puckish
" man named Goodfeller. They fall for each other but are interrupted during fellatio by Arlis and Sharline. As the projector's sound is broken, that night the four show A Midsummer Night's Dream reading the parts themselves. Having recognized the parallels to their situation, Hoppy plays Lysander (and Bottom), Arlis plays Demetrius, Sharline plays Hermia, and Helen plays Helena, in addition to other roles for each. The fairies Sharline sees now appear to the four "voice actors" and the audience.
At midnight, after the movie, they hear that Binns has been sighted. Hoppy chases his car but cannot find him. The next day Arlis and Helen leave for California
. Hoppy and Sharline find Binns's car in a ravine. Sharline climbs down to it; Binns is not in it, and she recovers the missing films and a good deal of money.
An epilogue describes what happens to the characters during the next few decades, with reference to Harington's previous and planned novels (referred to as "movies"). Hoppy and Sharline buy a movie theater and Sharline opens a barbershop; their son (possibly Arlis's) grows up in both places.
The narration repeatedly mentions that the story is in black and white.
compared Harington to William Faulkner
and Tom Robbins
(as "almost every female in the novel verges on nymphomania") and preferred where the story "just jiggle[s] along" to where Harington attempts "meaning".
Donald Harington
Donald Douglas Harington was an American author. All but the first of his novels either take place in or have an important connection to "Stay More," a fictional Ozark Mountains town based somewhat on Drakes Creek, Arkansas, where Harington spent summers as a child.Harington was born and raised in...
set in the Arkansas
Arkansas
Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...
part of the Ozarks in fictional towns near the fictional town of Stay More, the setting for Harington's other novels. The main character drives from town to town showing movies or "pitchers" (so he is a "pitcher shower") on improvised screens outdoors.
Summary
Landon "Hoppy" Boyd shows two Western movies (made in 1937) in a small town. After he leaves, he finds that a teenager named Carl has stowed away in his truck. Hoppy takes a liking to Carl and breaks his usual rule of returning stowaways to their homes. Carl is a helpful partner on the trip and in the next town (and a skilled barber), despite his habit of wandering at night in the woods, where he converses with fairiesFairy
A fairy is a type of mythical being or legendary creature, a form of spirit, often described as metaphysical, supernatural or preternatural.Fairies resemble various beings of other mythologies, though even folklore that uses the term...
. He proves to be a seventeen-year-old girl, Sharline Whitlow.
In the following town, Hoppy and Sharline meet Emmett Binns, an itinerant evangelist
Evangelism
Evangelism refers to the practice of relaying information about a particular set of beliefs to others who do not hold those beliefs. The term is often used in reference to Christianity....
who had once tried to molest Sharline. Sharline and Hoppy begin a sexual relationship. Despite tension with Binns, Hoppy treats him to some moonshine
Moonshine
Moonshine is an illegally produced distilled beverage...
whiskey and shows Binns his pornographic movie, and later that night Binns is arrested for assaulting an underage girl.
In the next town, Hoppy finds that his movies are missing. He blames Binns and starts a search with the cooperation of his handsome and charming friend Arlis Faught. Hoppy buys the only movie he can: the 1935 version of A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935 film)
A Midsummer Night's Dream is a 1935 film directed by Max Reinhardt and William Dieterle, produced by Henry Blanke and Hal Wallis, and adapted by Charles Kenyon and Mary C. McCall Jr...
. The film fascinates Arlis and Sharline. The next day Hoppy happens to see Arlis and Sharline having sex in the woods.
Later, while Arlis and Sharline are together, Arlis's frustrated girlfriend Helen Milsap visits Hoppy. They share moonshine that Hoppy got from a "puckish
Puck (Shakespeare)
Puck, also known as Robin Goodfellow, is a character in William Shakespeare's play A Midsummer Night's Dream that was based on the ancient figure in English mythology, also called Puck. Puck is a clever and mischievous elf and personifies the trickster or the wise knave...
" man named Goodfeller. They fall for each other but are interrupted during fellatio by Arlis and Sharline. As the projector's sound is broken, that night the four show A Midsummer Night's Dream reading the parts themselves. Having recognized the parallels to their situation, Hoppy plays Lysander (and Bottom), Arlis plays Demetrius, Sharline plays Hermia, and Helen plays Helena, in addition to other roles for each. The fairies Sharline sees now appear to the four "voice actors" and the audience.
At midnight, after the movie, they hear that Binns has been sighted. Hoppy chases his car but cannot find him. The next day Arlis and Helen leave for California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. Hoppy and Sharline find Binns's car in a ravine. Sharline climbs down to it; Binns is not in it, and she recovers the missing films and a good deal of money.
An epilogue describes what happens to the characters during the next few decades, with reference to Harington's previous and planned novels (referred to as "movies"). Hoppy and Sharline buy a movie theater and Sharline opens a barbershop; their son (possibly Arlis's) grows up in both places.
Style
The narrator, never identified, sometimes uses rural Arkansas dialect and sometimes "more proper and distant" language.The narration repeatedly mentions that the story is in black and white.
Major characters
- Landon Boyd is a twenty-six-year-old projectionist from Stay More, Arkansas, who also entertains his audiences with jugglingJugglingJuggling is a skill involving moving objects for entertainment or sport. The most recognizable form of juggling is toss juggling, in which the juggler throws objects up to catch and toss up again. This may be one object or many objects, at the same time with one or many hands. Jugglers often refer...
and magicMagic (illusion)Magic is a performing art that entertains audiences by staging tricks or creating illusions of seemingly impossible or supernatural feats using natural means...
tricks. He is nicknamed Hoppy as he shows Hopalong Cassidy movies and shares the surname of William BoydWilliam Boyd (actor)William Lawrence Boyd was an American film actor best known for portraying Hopalong Cassidy.-Biography:...
, who played Hopalong. He is not a fluent talker and often hates himself, especially for his sexual inadequacy.
- Sharline Whitlow is a girl from a small town. She is skilled (at least by local standards) at cutting hair, playing the piano, cooking, and telling stories, and she quickly learns to juggle (with balls or chiffon scarves) and repair machinery. As she does not get along with her mother, she runs away, disguised as a boy. Initially sexually ignorant, she learns eagerly and helps Hoppy overcome his sexual problems.
- Arlis Faught owns the general store in another town. He is the same age as Hoppy and looks similar, but "sightlier", with courtly manners and more education. He and Hoppy are friends until his desire for Sharline briefly comes between them.
- Helen Milsap teaches seventh and eighth grades. She is a beautiful young woman and Arlis's lover until Arlis briefly abandons her for Sharline.
- Emmett Binns is a hypocritical traveling preacher.
Reception
One review called The Pitcher Shower "charming" and "low-key", mentioning "gentle irony" and "whimsical characters". Another called it "tasty" and "a meditation on faith and belief, and on dreams". The Arkansas Democrat Gazette said the novel was "lyrical", with little suspense or tension. It particularly praised the scene where Helen visits Hoppy and the one where the four main characters watch A Midsummer Night's Dream for the first time and talk in Shakespearean style. The New YorkerThe New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
compared Harington to William Faulkner
William Faulkner
William Cuthbert Faulkner was an American writer from Oxford, Mississippi. Faulkner worked in a variety of media; he wrote novels, short stories, a play, poetry, essays and screenplays during his career...
and Tom Robbins
Tom Robbins
Thomas Eugene "Tom" Robbins Thomas Eugene "Tom" Robbins Thomas Eugene "Tom" Robbins (born July 22, 1936 is an American author. His best-selling novels are serio-comic, often wildly poetic stories with a strong social and philosophical undercurrent, an irreverent bent, and scenes extrapolated from...
(as "almost every female in the novel verges on nymphomania") and preferred where the story "just jiggle[s] along" to where Harington attempts "meaning".