Spiritual Leaders And TV Personalities Remember Zindler

By GRANT SLATER Associated Press Writer

HOUSTON (AP) – Four words were perched on the lips of more than 1,000 mourners sitting politely through the funeral of longtime Houston television personality Marvin Zindler.

Sweet release came nearly an hour in, midway through the seventh eulogy when the pastor revved up Zindler’s signature line and the masses joined in chorus. “Maaarvin Zindler – EYE-witness news!” Religious leaders and local TV personalities celebrated Zindler’s one-off style as well has his zeal for helping the powerless.

Zindler, the reporter who inspired “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas,” will be remembered as the first and most flamboyant personality in television consumer affairs reporting. Zindler’s co-workers at Houston station KTRK took to the pulpit at Congregation Beth Israel Temple to poke fun at his white suits and blue shades, no-holds-barred reporting style and his 17 trips under the knife for plastic surgery.

Former KTRK anchor Shara Fryer said Zindler, who died Sunday from complications of pancreatic cancer at age 85, never hesitated to tell fellow on-air personalities how he thought they could benefit from a nose job or facelift. “And some of us did,” Fryer said. Beneath the glossy veneer and silver toupees, Zindler harbored a drive to help “the lost, the last and the least” regardless of race, class and religion, Houston Pastor Kirbyjon Caldwell said.

Chris Schilling, who started Zindler Realty with one of Zindler’s sons, said the Houston icon’s appeal shone through in his ability to bring together a Catholic archbishop, Methodist pastor, Baptist reverend and television evangelist under the roof of his home synagogue. The U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution Monday honoring Zindler for helping the economically powerless, politically underrepresented, and physically ill.

Zindler joined KTRK’s news team in 1973 after being fired from the Harris County Sheriff’s Department. That department’s honor guard solemnly kept watch over Zindler’s casket as funeral services began. He carved out a niche in local lore with his crusade against “a bawdy house” near La Grange, Texas.

His fame grew when a Playboy Magazine story followed. “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas” became a Broadway smash then Hollywood movie, propelling Zindler to national renown. He used his “Action 13” segment to right consumer wrongs, document his many surgeries and air his efforts to help some of the thousands of people who sent him requests for relief. “He could outwork, outtalk, outyell, outtravel, outgolf, outdo just about anybody and anything,” said KTRK anchor Melanie Lawson.

(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)