The Texas Chicken Ranch: Famous Brothel to Broadway

American History Hit

History Hit

America, History

4.5 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 14 August 2023

⏱️ 30 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

When it closed in 1973, the Texas Chicken Ranch was the oldest continually operating brothel in the United States. Why was this brothel able to survive for so long? Who were the women at work there? And where did it get its name?

In this episode, Don explores the brothel behind the Dolly Parton and Burt Reynolds musical with Jayme Blaschke, author of Inside the Texas Chicken Ranch: The Definitive Account of the Best Little Whorehouse.

Produced by Sophie Gee. Edited by Siobhan Dale. Senior Producer was Charlotte Long.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Outside the city limits of Lagrange, Texas, sits a ruined ramshackle of a building,
0:10.5	splintered by time and exposure to the elements, vandalized by locals and littered
0:15.7	with the marks of curious musical loving sightseers.
0:19.8	But now imagine this place 75 years ago.
0:25.0	It's a farmhouse, whitewashed in the Texas sunshine,
0:29.0	inhabited by a hive of busy women,
0:32.0	living under the strict rules maintained by their matriarch, the
0:35.4	madam of the house. They eat at a point at times of day. No vulgar language is permitted.
0:41.6	These girls are to behave as ladies. And each evening before 7 p.m. they are
0:46.7	expected to change into evening dresses and await the bell that calls them to the parlor,
0:52.1	where they'll greet their nightly guests.
0:55.0	Welcome to the Texas chicken ranch.
0:57.7	But in this house of ill repute,
1:00.2	there is very little interest in poultry. Hey it's Don Wildman here. Welcome back to American History hit and today we've got an unusual rather body story to tell. Remember that
1:24.4	great blues guitar anthem from the 70s? La Grange by ZZ Top? Here I'll
1:29.7	give it my best shot.
1:30.5	Dha da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da.
1:35.0	Oh, hey, I'm so good.
1:37.8	And then there was the long running Broadway show that was called Best Little Horhouse in Texas, you heard of it, which eventually got made into a big splashy Hollywood musical starring Dolly Parton and Bert Reynolds.
1:48.8	Now, what esteemed institution of the American West, do you expect deserved such cultural
1:55.0	commemoration? Well, it was the Texas Chicken Ranch. That legendary house of
1:59.8	ill-repute located for most of the 20th century in or around the city of
	...

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