"That Shack Outside LaGrange"

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One of the more interesting things in this world is the number of Broadway musicals that have been based on real life. Most of you know that The Sound of Music was inspired by the von Trapp family, Funny Girl was based on Fanny Brice's life, and recent hits Jersey Boys and The Million-Dollar Quartet look at the career of successful musicians (Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons, and Elvis, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Roy Orbison, respectively). Did you know 1979's Tony-nominated Best Little (Chicken Ranch) in Texas was also based on a real event? In August 1973 a Houston-based TV "watchdog reporter" by the name of Marvin Zindler did an exposé of "the chicken ranch," a house of ill-repute near LaGrange, Texas. According to the Wikipedia article, the origins of the Chicken Ranch were in 1844, and it operated until Zindler's report created enough public outcry for law enforcement officials (who had tolerated it for years; and, according to one article, even got help from the "girls" who'd turn in tips from their talkative customers) to force its closure. The story inspired the play, which later became a movie starring Dolly Parton and Burt Reynolds. Dom DeLuise played "Melvin Thorpe," heavily based on Zindler (the scene where Reynolds' sheriff character yanks DeLuise's toupee off actually did happen: Sheriff Jim Flournoy, furious about Zindler's actions, ripped the reporter's toupee off and broke several ribs. (Hopefully it wouldn't surprise you that Zindler sued.) Marvin Zindler died of pancreatic cancer in 2007. In addition to the musical, the story also inspired the legendary ZZ Top song "LaGrange":