Marvin Zindler is best known for busting up the Chicken Ranch brothel in La Grange, Texas, a story that inspired both a Broadway musical and Hollywood movie titled “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.” Then there are the whimsical catch phrases that almost every Houstonian heard on their TV sets at 6pm each night such as  Slime in the Ice Machine and his epic sign-off: Marvin Zindler, Eyewitness News! While his work at KTRK certainly accounts for a significant portion of his legacy, Zindler’s career is varied and dense. Marvin Zindler has been gone for almost 20 years, but no one has created a documentary telling his story. We will work to create an entertaining work to document Marvin Zindler’s story, while contributing to a historical record that honors one of the most legendary individuals in Texas broadcast history.

Through the end of 2025 and into 2026, members of our production team will be travelling back and forth between Austin and Houston to perform interviews, collect archival and historical media, and capture footage of those still living who remain part of Zindler’s legacy. We will be working directly with the Zindler family, KTRK and the official archives at the University of Houston, as well as people who knew Marvin both personally and professionally. We will be working towards the goal of completing the project as a feature-length documentary by the end of 2026. We will screen the movie at film festivals throughout 2027 with the goal of acquiring distribution by the end of that year.

Production will take place mostly in Houston, with potential interviews also in St. Louis, Nashville, New York, and throughout the state of Texas. Post-production will take place in Austin, where the producers and directors are based. Once complete, we will premiere the documentary in Houston and eventually introduce the world to Marvin Zindler.