|
|
Marvin Zindler,
Eyewitness News, Channel 13, Houston Texas by Christine Fitzgerald I was invited to give a little lecture on the topic of “Fattitude Adjustment” at the Fat Free Cream Cheese Industry’s Fall Conclave in Houston. I believe that the Fat Free Cream Cheese industry has given up on changing my negative view of its product, but they are good sports about it, and somehow find me entertaining. In any event, while I was in Houston attending the Fat Free Cream Cheese Industry's Fall Conclave I had the opportunity to see Marvin Zindler, a reporter for Eyewitness News, on local Houston television. Marvin has been a staple of the Houston news scene for about a 57 years. He has a formidable reputation as an investigative journalist, notably breaking the famous Texas Chicken Ranch whore house story. Marvin has a distinctive loud drawl and always wears dark glasses during news broadcasts. The night I saw him he was wearing rather stylish glasses frames with topaz blue lenses, but the ads for Eyewitness news feature Marvin wearing enormous pitch black sunglasses. Marvin has a full head of fluffy white hair, which is brushed straight back from his face, and his face is slightly orange from all of the makeup he has to wear. At home we have a little segment of the news called “Street Beat” during which the reporter ferrets out awful stuff happening around town that you might not already know about. Marvin ferrets out awful stuff happening around town that you might not already know about, but Marvin does something about the awful subject of the story. The night I watched, Marvin found a family consisting of the mom who has a British accent (you can assume she doesn’t have family in town) and her triplets who were born prematurely about five years ago. I don’t recall where the dad was. One of the little boys has a hole in his neck that never healed after he had a tracheotomy as an infant. Marvin’s cameraman made sure to get a close up of the boy breathing through the dreadful hole in his neck. The poor mother lives in a cottage on the outskirts of town and does not have insurance. The boy’s doctor treats him for free, but she is unable to perform the operation to fix the hole in his neck. By this time I am sure that most of Houston is reaching for its checkbook to help out this unfortunate family, but Marvin does not stop there. The camera cuts to a picture of Children’s Hospital, and the next thing you know, Marvin is in the office of the doctor in charge of everything at Children’s Hospital. Marvin is wearing a black suit, and a black shirt, with a white tie jutting out, or was that his napkin still tucked under his chin from lunch, that he forgot to yank out in his haste to get some help for that little boy? We see Dr. Head of Everything over at Children’s agreeing to fix up the little boy, then Marvin shouts, “MAAARvin Zindler, AHHHHHHwitness News.” |
|
|