The Shiver Shack

When one interviewee, who made good secondary use of the Sears catalog, got "down to the buggies," it was time to put in a fresh order for another catalog for the outhouse. For the numberless families scattered across the American wilderness during the early-to-mid-20th century, the Sears catalog was a definite improvement over the corn cob when it came to personal hygiene in the shiver shack. In Mark Oliver Richman's impish slice of Americana, folks recall the "no indoor plumbing" days when answering the call of nature meant a field trip to a wooden shack that featured few amenities (you froze your buns off during the winter, endured odors that would have made WWF wrestlers cry during the summer, and--if you were unfortunate enough to have siblings--suffered various pranks year-round). Like its subject, The Shiver Shack, which is comprised mostly of interview footage, has a bit of a homemade quality to it. Yet, who amongst us can resist tales of children who fell in the hole, Halloween night shenanigans ("my brothers decided our neighbors needed an outhouse on their porch"), or contemporary finds from dig sites of former outhouses (valuable Depression era glass turns up with some frequency)? Visiting Beggs, OK, for a listen to the poetry of "Outhouse Annie" and a front row seat for the outhouse races is just plain old icing on the urinal cake, so to speak. A bargain at $14.95, this is enthusiastically recommended. Aud: C, P. (R. Pitman)