7 Things You Likely Didn’t Know About ‘The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas’

2. It Is Based On Real Life

The character of Melvin P. Thorpe (Dom DeLuise) is based on an actual television personality. His real-life counterpart was a newsman named Marvin Zindler, who was responsible for bringing about the closure of the real-life Chicken Ranch brothel in Fayette County, Texas.

Zindler’s 1973 report on the brothel was published in Texas Monthly Magazine and also appeared in two issues of Playboy in 1974. Zindler’s report caused the brothel to permanently close after being in operation for nearly 70 years.

The popularity of The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas made it so no one would ever forget about Zindler, his report, or the Chicken Ranch.