‘Best Little Whorehouse’ Crusader Dies
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HOUSTON — Marvin Zindler, the flamboyant television consumer reporter whose crusade against a rural brothel inspired the play and movie “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas,” died yesterday. He was 85. Zindler died of complications from pancreatic cancer, officials at KTRK-TV, the station he worked for, said.
“For nearly 35 years, he was welcomed into the hearts and homes of millions of local viewers,” said Henry Florsheim, president and general manager of KTRK.
Zindler landed at KTRK in 1973, soon after being fired at age 51 from the Harris County Sheriff’s Department, where he had fought consumer fraud. He wasted little time before making his mark by railing against “a bawdy house” near La Grange that July.
State Attorney General John Hill had seen reports from the Texas Department of Public Safety about how local law enforcers allowed the Chicken Ranch brothel to operate, Zindler said.
