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Marvin Zindler (1921-2007)
10:32 PM CDT on Sunday, July 29, 2007
Associated Press and KHOU.com Staff Reports
HOUSTON—Marvin Zindler, the flamboyant pioneer of TV consumer reporting whose crusade against a rural brothel inspired “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas,” died Sunday from complications of pancreatic cancer, Houston television station KTRK said. He was 85.
AP
Marvin Zindler
Zindler, the city’s most recognizable television personality, didn’t begin his broadcasting career until he was 51.
Zindler landed at KTRK in 1973, soon after being fired from the Harris County Sheriff’s Department.
He wasted little time before making his mark by railing against “a bawdy house” near La Grange, Texas, that July.
Zindler said state Attorney General John Hill had seen reports from the Texas Department of Public Safety about how local law enforcement allowed the “Chicken Ranch” brothel to operate.
“The district attorney over there at that time said it wasn’t going to be closed because if people wanted it to be closed they’d close it,” Zindler recalled in 1998. “Hill got upset about it. In those days the DPS didn’t take action in a county unless the county asked them to. Those were courtesy days.”
Hill enlisted Zindler’s help and gave him the DPS investigative reports.
Zindler followed through with a series of reports exposing Chicken Ranch and the law enforcement conspiracy.
He showed the evidence to Gov. Dolph Briscoe on a Monday and the brothel was closed by Thursday, but its legacy had just begun.
The TV reports made Zindler a household name statewide.
Marvin at work His fame grew when a Playboy Magazine story followed. “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas” became a Broadway smash and propelled Zindler to national renown.
He liked the play but hated the Burt Reynolds-Dolly Parton movie of the same name, in which Dom DeLuise played him, over-the-top.
Zindler, a Houston native, was a salesman in his family’s clothing store before joining the sheriff’s department, where he developed a penchant for fighting consumer fraud.
After the Chicken Ranch established Zindler, he used his “Action 13” segment to right consumer wrongs.
Eventually, he became so potent that targeted businesses usually would try to rectify conflicts when they saw Zindler coming, rather than risk citywide embarrassment.
Locally, Zindler became best known for his Friday “rat and roach report,” fingering eateries cited by the city for health violations.
A rant about “mouse droppings on the countertop” or “sliiiiime in the ice machine” could break a restaurant.
His power as a ratings draw earned him a reported seven-figure salary in 1984 and a lifetime contract in 1988.
Also online
A look at Marvin's life
Condolence board
Zindler, always bedecked on air and off in a powder-white toupee, colorful suits and colored glasses also was a proud veteran of more cosmetic surgeries than he could count. To that end, he frequently arranged for badly needed operations for disfigured or deformed children.
“Marvin was one of the most valued and beloved people in Houston. 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. “This is a deep loss for me both, personally and professionally, my prayers are with his family, friends and co-workers.”
He announced his illness in a report for KTRK from his hospital room earlier in July and recounted his various surgeries, including two open heart surgeries and various cosmetic surgeries.
Of his pancreatic cancer, he said, “Well, I know everybody thinks that’s a fatal disease and it is, but you have to take treatment for it and you have to stay with it. “I don’t want anyone feeling sorry for me because I am almost 86 years old, next month in August. Most people are dead when they are 65 or 70 and I am lucky to be alive at 86.”
Zindler is survived by his wife Niki, five children, nine grand children and a great-grand child.
Funeral arrangements were pending, said Tom Ash, a spokesman for KTRK.
Education
Zindler attended Pershing Middle School and Lamar High School in Houston, and went on to John Tarleton Agricultural College in Stephenville, Texas. In 1941, when the United States was thrust into the middle of World War II, Zindler joined the United States Marine Corps and later received an honorable discharge.
It was said that Zindler’s father, Abe, who owned a successful clothing store in Houston, was disappointed in Marvin, who Abe considered frivolous and irresponsible.
Zindler's father apparently wanted his sons to inherit the store.
That did not happen so when Abe Zindler died, Marvin’s inheritance was allocated to a trust for his children.
10:32 PM CDT on Sunday, July 29, 2007
Associated Press and KHOU.com Staff Reports
HOUSTON—Marvin Zindler, the flamboyant pioneer of TV consumer reporting whose crusade against a rural brothel inspired “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas,” died Sunday from complications of pancreatic cancer, Houston television station KTRK said. He was 85.
AP
Marvin Zindler
Zindler, the city’s most recognizable television personality, didn’t begin his broadcasting career until he was 51.
Zindler landed at KTRK in 1973, soon after being fired from the Harris County Sheriff’s Department.
He wasted little time before making his mark by railing against “a bawdy house” near La Grange, Texas, that July.
Zindler said state Attorney General John Hill had seen reports from the Texas Department of Public Safety about how local law enforcement allowed the “Chicken Ranch” brothel to operate.
“The district attorney over there at that time said it wasn’t going to be closed because if people wanted it to be closed they’d close it,” Zindler recalled in 1998. “Hill got upset about it. In those days the DPS didn’t take action in a county unless the county asked them to. Those were courtesy days.”
Hill enlisted Zindler’s help and gave him the DPS investigative reports.
Zindler followed through with a series of reports exposing Chicken Ranch and the law enforcement conspiracy.
He showed the evidence to Gov. Dolph Briscoe on a Monday and the brothel was closed by Thursday, but its legacy had just begun.
The TV reports made Zindler a household name statewide.
Marvin at work His fame grew when a Playboy Magazine story followed. “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas” became a Broadway smash and propelled Zindler to national renown.
He liked the play but hated the Burt Reynolds-Dolly Parton movie of the same name, in which Dom DeLuise played him, over-the-top.
Zindler, a Houston native, was a salesman in his family’s clothing store before joining the sheriff’s department, where he developed a penchant for fighting consumer fraud.
After the Chicken Ranch established Zindler, he used his “Action 13” segment to right consumer wrongs.
Eventually, he became so potent that targeted businesses usually would try to rectify conflicts when they saw Zindler coming, rather than risk citywide embarrassment.
Locally, Zindler became best known for his Friday “rat and roach report,” fingering eateries cited by the city for health violations.
A rant about “mouse droppings on the countertop” or “sliiiiime in the ice machine” could break a restaurant.
His power as a ratings draw earned him a reported seven-figure salary in 1984 and a lifetime contract in 1988.
Also online
A look at Marvin's life
Condolence board
Zindler, always bedecked on air and off in a powder-white toupee, colorful suits and colored glasses also was a proud veteran of more cosmetic surgeries than he could count. To that end, he frequently arranged for badly needed operations for disfigured or deformed children.
“Marvin was one of the most valued and beloved people in Houston. 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. “This is a deep loss for me both, personally and professionally, my prayers are with his family, friends and co-workers.”
He announced his illness in a report for KTRK from his hospital room earlier in July and recounted his various surgeries, including two open heart surgeries and various cosmetic surgeries.
Of his pancreatic cancer, he said, “Well, I know everybody thinks that’s a fatal disease and it is, but you have to take treatment for it and you have to stay with it. “I don’t want anyone feeling sorry for me because I am almost 86 years old, next month in August. Most people are dead when they are 65 or 70 and I am lucky to be alive at 86.”
Zindler is survived by his wife Niki, five children, nine grand children and a great-grand child.
Funeral arrangements were pending, said Tom Ash, a spokesman for KTRK.
Education
Zindler attended Pershing Middle School and Lamar High School in Houston, and went on to John Tarleton Agricultural College in Stephenville, Texas. In 1941, when the United States was thrust into the middle of World War II, Zindler joined the United States Marine Corps and later received an honorable discharge.
It was said that Zindler’s father, Abe, who owned a successful clothing store in Houston, was disappointed in Marvin, who Abe considered frivolous and irresponsible.
Zindler's father apparently wanted his sons to inherit the store.
That did not happen so when Abe Zindler died, Marvin’s inheritance was allocated to a trust for his children.
