The Pitcher Shower

by: Donald Harington

Published by: The Toby Press

Reviewed by Julie Failla Earhart

"From far yonder down the road here he comes again, folks, Hoppy Boyd, the happy moving showman of moving pitchers to show you another good'un." And that's what author Donald Harington has done in this thirteenth novel, The Pitcher Shower.

Set in the 1930s, Hoppy travels the Ozarks of northwest Arkansas, showing a serial and a full-length Hopalong Cassidy movie in a different town each week from his house/projection booth/truck named Topper. Hoppy is happy, a little lonesome on his travels, but he loves the caricature of Hopalong Cassidy that he has made for himself--complete down to the big ten-gallon black hat and naming his truck after the real Hopalong's horse.

Life isn't easy, but Hoppy finds solace in his jug of Chism's Dew and a reel of film called "Assortment" that he watches alone, projecting it in the rear of the truck. Everything seems to being going along like normal until Hoppy has to deal with a stowaway named Carl who isn't at all what he seems and makes Hoppy's life a bit more confounded, what with him visiting the fairies in the woods at night and whatnot.

Hoppy is trailed by Emmett Binns, but he encounters a bigger disaster than a man who preaches it i a sin to watch moving picture shows--some low-down varmint has stolen the moving pitchers!

As he tries to find the dirty thief, Hoppy can only find one movie to show his customers: A Midsummer's Night Dream. He isn't sure how his customers will react as Hoppy doesn't even understand the film's magical nuances. But maybe Carl can help since he has his little fairy friends.

The chase scene near the end of the book where Hoppy is about to catch the thief gave me shivers and reminded me of those long, long drives up what everyone called "the pig trail" between Fort Smith and Fayetteville long before the interstates made the roads smooth and somewhat even.

Armchair Interviews says: Harington uses dialect sparingly, just enough to keep the reader grounded in the time and place. The use of characterization and description is authentic. The storytelling is vivid and exciting.