Rex Trailer

Rex Trailer
Rex Trailer meets a young fan in Worcester, MA on December 10, 2006
Born	Rex Traylor September 16, 1928 (1928-09-16) Fort Worth, Texas, U.S.
Occupation	Cowboy, actor, singer, film producer
Years active	1947–present

Rex Trailer is a Boston, Massachusetts based television personality, broadcast pioneer, and Country and Western recording artist. He is best known as the host of the children's show Boomtown.

Early life

Photo of Rex and Goldrush. Boulevard Shopping Center, located at Cottman Ave. and Roosevelt Blvd. in NE Philadelphia, was the site of appearances by Trailer in the early 1950s.

Rex Trailer was born in 1928 and grew up just outside of Fort Worth, Texas. He learned his cowboy skills while spending summers on his grandfather’s ranch. As a rodeo performer, he met western movie star Gabby Hayes who hired him to work at his Catskills summer ranch for kids. Hayes encouraged him to break into television as an on-air personality.

Television pioneer

In 1947, Trailer went to work for the DuMont Television Network in New York City as a production coordinator. He later became the host of the network's Oky Doky Ranch. The show featured Rex Trailer as a cowboy and Oky Doky was a cowboy puppet. This format has some obvious similarity to the Howdy Doody show. Oky Doky had already been established in local television before being moved to the network, so there is some debate as to who came first.

After the Oky Doky series ended, Trailer heard that the Westinghouse TV station in Philadelphia (WPTZ) needed a host for a Western-style children's show. Rex Trailer and his horse "Gold Rush" moved to Philadelphia and hosted television shows from 1950 until 1956. "Ridin’ the Trail with Rex Trailer" featured him as the host for movie westerns. He also had a daily 15-minute program featuring songs, games and dances with Trailer and his guitar. This show went by various names, including "Hi-Noon with Rex Trailer", "Saddlebag O' Songs" and "Rex Trailer's Ranch House".

Recording artist

Trailer recorded Country and Western Music for ABC-Paramount Records, among other labels. At one time, c. 1950, Trailer recorded with Bill Haley and his Saddlemates, who gained fame later as Bill Haley and His Comets. In 1955, Cowboys Don't Cry and a song later used regularly on the Boomtown show, Hoofbeats, were released together in the 78 rpm and 45 rpm vinyl record formats. Trailer released at least two 33¹⁄₃ rpm 12" vinyl albums, as "Rex Trailer and the Playboys", one titled Country and Western in 1960 and one titled Good Old Country Music, released by Crown records (CLP 5484 monaural), date unknown. Another album with some overlap in playlists also exists, by "Rex Trailer and his Cow Hands", titled Western Favorites, which was released in 1961 on Spin-O-Rama records.

The 78 rpm version of Hoofbeats and Cowboys Don't Cry.

The Boomtown/Boston years

In 1956, Rex Trailer moved to Boston and hosted a weekend-morning children's show Boomtown on WBZ-TV. This series proved to be his greatest success, airing through 1974 and establishing Trailer as a major local celebrity within the signal of Boston's TV Channel 4. Rex 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 simple contests of skill, and introduced cartoons and other children's programming segments. He was aided by many guests and by 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 finally "Sgt. Billy" played by actor Bill O'Brien.

Rex Trailer's fame, good name, and crowd-pleasing talents made him a popular draw at many personal appearances in the area. He was also able to successfully team with a local travel agency in chaperoning children on an annual series of large-scale school-vacation trips to California tourist attractions. In the early 1960s, 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 A.R.C. ( then called the Association for Retarded Citizens.) 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.

Recognition

The retrospective book Rex Trailer: The Boomtown Years by Shirley Kawa-Jump was published in 1997.

Trailer was inducted into the Massachusetts Country Music Hall of Fame in 2000. He was included in the first group of honorees inducted into the Massachusetts Broadcasters Hall of Fame in Brockton MA on May 5, 2007.

A documentary film titled, Rex Trailer's Boomtown was produced by Milford, Massachusetts native Michael Bavaro. The film was broadcast on WBZ-TV on June 18, 2005 as a special and was nominated for a New England Emmy award for best historical documentary. Jay Leno, Jimmy Tingle, Mayor Tom Menino, Steven Wright and more than 100 grown-up kids share their Boomtown memories, and attest to the enduring stature of its host. The broadcast version of the film and archive material were presented to and are now part of the permanent collection at the Museum of Television & Radio in New York City. The film enjoyed an encore presentation on WGBH Boston on August 26, 2010.

Later career

Trailer meets the artist for The Phantom comic strip, Paul Ryan, at That's Entertainment in Fitchburg MA on 9/11/2011

Rex Trailer continues to work in the television industry, and teaches on-air performance at Emerson College in Boston. Trailer had a minor role in the 1990 Cher/Winona Ryder movie Mermaids. He still makes regular personal appearances, and performs live on occasion, even performing at Boston rock clubs in the last few years as a special guest. Rex Trailer is also a perennial participant in Natick Massachusetts' annual July 4 parade, in which he rides Goldrush.

Rex Trailer is still involved in helping people with disabilities and supporting The Arc. He was honored for his lifetime of contributions to people with mental and intellectual disabilities at the 50th anniversary Gala for The Arc of Massachusetts on September 10, 2005.

On December 10, 2006, Rex performed several songs (including the Boomtown theme and some of his own Christmas songs) and signed free autographs for hundreds of fans at That's Entertainment in Worcester, Massachusetts. The event was part of Trailer's official 50th Anniversary of Boomtown celebration tour. Then Worcester Mayor Tim Murray officially proclaimed it "Rex Trailer's Boomtown Day" throughout the city to mark the occasion.

In 2011, Trailer donated his three .45-caliber revolvers with staghorn handles to the Massachusetts State Police Museum in Grafton, Massachusetts. The gun shop where they had been stored went out of business, and the guns very nearly went on the auction block before Trailer and Michael Bavaro learned of the situation and retook possession.

On September 11, 2011, Trailer appeared at That's Entertainment in Fitchburg, Massachusetts to meet fans, sing songs and sign free autographs. Trailer sang a song he wrote to honor the victims of 9/11, I Appreciate You. He had first performed the song on 2002/09/10 at the Comedy Connection in Faneuil Hall. He explained prior to that event, "Ever since 9-11, the world has changed for all of us. We have to stick together, protect each other, and let those you love, respect, and admire know how much you appreciate them."

External links

• Rex Trailer - Official Site
• [1] - Massachusetts Broadcasters Hall of Fame
• [2] Boomtown Video Clip from Digital Freeway
• Wagon Train Rex Trailer footage of 1959 Wagon ride for The Arc.
• [3] - "I Appreciate You" by Rex Trailer. A video of Rex singing with Dave Shaheen at Rex's studio in Waltham, MA.