“The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas” is a stage and film musical, based on a story by Larry L. King. Drawing from the true-life Chicken Ranch in La Grange, Texas. The original play addresses the issue of private behaviour in conflict with public law. The real events adapted for the musical involved an overly zealous reporter (Marvin Zindler), whose coverage led to the closing of the Chicken Ranch, so called because during The Depression when money was short, poultry was accepted in payment for, err, . . . . . . . services!

The Broadway production opened on June 19th 1978, at the 46th Street Theatre, with songs by Carol Hall. The original cast starred Carlin Glynn and Henderson Forsyth. It was directed by Peter Masterson and Tommy Tune, and choreographed by Tommy Tune and Thommie Walsh. The evening of raunchy yet innocent fun provided theatre goers with enough titillating frankness to become the longest running musical of the 1978-79 Broadway season.

The production had a successful run of 1584 performances. It was nominated for 6 Tony Awards and won 2 (Best Featured Actor ; Best Featured Actress ), It also won a Theatre World Award before closing on March 27th 1982.

The show had its origins in an article Larry King wrote for Playboy, about a backwater Texas Brothel which had been in business since the late 1800’s and which was closed down because of over zealous do-gooders. Larry King was persuaded to write the book for the musical despite hating musical theatre. “I hated musicals. A bunch of candy-assed tippy toed tap-dancers stomping all over the dialogue”. “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas” gave 12 performances at the Actors studio from October 20th – November 6th 1977.After revision, it opened off Broadway at the Entermedia Theatre on April 17th 1978 where it ran for 85 performances before moving onto Broadway for its long run. The shows uninhibited rowdy country humour, its candidness in not pretending its central characters were anything other than whores, and the fresh appealing score

all contributed to the shows immediate success. The show might have run longer, if early in 1982, its management had not become embroiled in a fight with the American Federation of Musicians which had just won a pay increase of $50 per week for its members. The show utilized only 9 musicians but was forced by union contract for the 46th Street Theatre to pay for 25 musicians. That meant paying 16 “walkers” who not only didn’t play, but didn’t even have to attend performances. The management announced its intention to transfer the show to the 9 musicians Music Box Theatre, but the Union insisted it would enforce the 25 musician run of the play agreement. An angry management closed the show and moved it to Boston, but returned it to New York on May 31st in what was described as a return engagement at the Eugene O’Neill theatre (a 9 musician theatre). An agreement was reached with the unions, but the run was only 63 performances so it was a pyrrhic victory.

The show has never been revived on Broadway and didn’t catch on in Australia or in London. The London production opened at the Drury Lane Theatre Royal in 1981, but many considered the venue too big for the show and the run was limited.

The movie version was released in 1982 and starred Dolly Parton and Burt Reynolds. It retained many of the songs from the stagemversion, but added two others by Parton herself. It also added some new characters and changed the ending to a “happy” ending with the Sheriff proposing marriage to Mona, whereas in the stage version they simply go their separate ways . The film version presented some difficulties for Universal, particularly with advertising for the film. In 1982, the word whorehouse was considered obscene in parts of the USA, resulting in the film being renamed “The Best Little Cathouse in Texas” in some print ads, while television ads were either banned outright in some areas, or the offending word was censored. During interviews, Parton sometimes referred to the film as “The Best Little Chicken House in Texas”. A USA touring revival of the musical (with one

new song by Hall) opened in 2001, starring Ann-Margaret. In this version the song “Bus From Amarillo” which ended the original show, was moved to the end of Act 1 so as to accommodate a new closing song for Mona “A Friend to Me”

A sequel entitled “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas Goes Public” by the same authors, opened and closed on Broadway in 1994.

ARTICLE IN PLAYBILL (16/7/1999)

The real-life TV reporter who helped shutter the infamous Houston-area brothel known as the Chicken Ranch -- the inspiration for the musical, “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas” -- will attend the July 16 opening of the musical at the Country Playhouse, a Houston community theatre.

Marvin Zindler, who helped expose the brothel and its links to Texas celebrities and officials, is still active and on the air on KTRK-TV in Houston some 30 years after becoming a celebrity for shining light on the brothel. He and a group of his colleagues from KTRK-TV (where he is known as Action 13) will attend the show and be introduced.

Zindler is represented in the Larry L. King-Peter Masterson-Carol Hall musical as “Melvin P. Thorpe,” a flamboyant reporter in flashy suits and a silver wig who is a moral and consumer “watchdog” for a TV station. In real-life, Zindler is known for his big voice, toupee, white suits and sunglasses. Scott Kilgore plays the role at the Country Playhouse. Show spokesman M.G. Perez told Playbill On-Line, Zindler, who is thought to be in his late seventies, is “a Houston institution” who began as a news reporter but became the station’s consumer reporter following the Chicken Ranch’s expose in the early 1970s. A cake will be presented to Zindler at intermission. In the show, Thorpe, backed up by his young “watchdogs” (a group of fresh-faced singer dancers) sings “Texas Has a Whorehouse in It,” a rousing, evangelical revival turn.

AWARDS

TOADS Stage Musical Company . Founded in 1930s. TOADS presents a major musical each June at the Princess Theatre and a smaller musical at The Little Theatre in Torquay. It is a registered Charity. Registered Charity No. 268829

visitors to the site:

miles@toads.org.uk