Rex Trailer - The Boomtown/Boston Years

The Boomtown/Boston Years

The Philadelphia station that employed Trailer was sold to NBC. The young star, with short time remaining on his contract to Westinghouse Broadcasting, was presented a choice of two Westinghouse station cities as his next stop: Cleveland or Boston. In 1956, with a wealth of broadcasting experience and not yet out of his twenties, Rex Trailer chose the move to Boston to host a new weekend-morning children's show Boomtown on WBZ-TV.

The show, named by Rex after the title of a Clark Gable film he saw on TV at the time, had a format which combined elements of the other shows he had done. Though the original commitment was only for a few months, this series proved to be his greatest success, airing through 1974. Boomtown established Trailer as a major (and enduring) local celebrity within the signal of Boston's TV Channel 4. Trailer performed songs while playing guitar, and showed off his authentic cowboy skills with horse-riding tricks, rope tricks, skilled use of the bull-whip, and shooting (though he banished weapons from the show after JFK’s assassination in 1963). He led the studio audience of children in sing-alongs and contests of skill, and introduced cartoons and other children's programming segments. The young viewers "adored him for his consistent kindness and competence." Trailer was aided by many guests, such as John MacFarland (for "Critter Corner"), and by his various sidekicks over the years, including "Pablo" from 1956 to 1967 (played by actor Richard Kilbride), then "Cactus Pete" from 1967 to 1969 (played by Terrance Currier), and "Sgt. Billy" (played by actor Bill O'Brien).

Rex Trailer's fame, good name, and crowd-pleasing talents made him a dependable draw at his many personal appearances in the area. He was also able to team with a local travel agency in chaperoning children on an annual series of large-scale school-vacation trips to California tourist attractions.

Trailer was recognized as a strong advocate for children with disabilities. In 1961, Trailer (and Gold Rush) led an actual wagon train across the state of Massachusetts ending at the State House in Boston, to call public attention to the needs of the mentally retarded, and the organization The Arc (then called the Association for Retarded Citizens). Trailer insisted on including children with disabilities in his show, and is said to have been one of the first to do so. In addition, Trailer also encouraged his young fans to hold neighborhood charity fund-raisers called "Backyard Carnivals Against Dystrophy", offering how-to kits on air. As a result of such efforts, Trailer came to be perceived as the "cowboy with a conscience" on and off the air.

Shooting live three-hour shows in the Brighton studio every Saturday and Sunday morning left Trailer little opportunity at that time to contemplate his place in television history. "We just did it. It was a blast," he said, adding that the show was the most enjoyable thing he'd ever done ever done, because its genuineness made the fun contagious. "We were doing educational TV before there was educational TV," Trailer asserted. "Children need role models. I wanted them to understand their obligation to take care of each other."

When Boomtown ended, Trailer briefly put his Western costume aside and hosted Earth Lab, a syndicated science series that aired across the country until 1979. He was part of the successful "I Love New York" tourism campaign, playing a New Hampshire fisherman in a 1982 TV commercial. Trailer had a minor but memorable role as a doctor in the 1990 Cher/Winona Ryder movie Mermaids, saying to Ryder's character, "Whatever gave you the idea that you were pregnant? You're still a virgin!" Later, he co-hosted Boomtown Revisited on Continental Cablevision in the early 1990s.

Besides his cowboy, musical and broadcasting skills, Trailer had other talents. He was a licensed pilot, having flown fixed wing craft including the Boeing 747 as well as helicopters. He would often arrive at personal appearances at the controls of a helicopter, sometimes seasonally accompanied by Santa Claus. Once, Trailer was flying with Bozo the Clown (Frank Avruch) in his helicopter; engine trouble forced them down in a Western Massachusetts field, where they were greeted by incredulous children who had followed their descent. Trailer owned a helicopter shuttle company in the 1960s and 1970s that at its peak transported 500-600 passengers a day. He was an accomplished sky diver, scuba diver and water skier. Trailer also worked as a travel agent and was a certified hypnotherapist.