Rex Trailer Made Boston a ‘Boomtown’ for Kid Cowboys

By now, you've no doubt heard about my adventures in television, appearing on locally produced programs such as Bozo the Clown and Romper Room that were shot at the WTEV-6 studios on County Street in New Bedford back in the day.

You may not know that I also took my act on the road. Somewhere between Miss Diane and Bozo, I found time to appear on WBZ-TV 4 Boston's Boomtown with Rex Trailer.

I was in demand back then.

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Boomtown was presented live on Saturday and Sunday mornings from the Channel 4 studios or out back by an Olympic-sized swimming pool. The day I appeared on the program, it was in the studio, designed to resemble an Old West town.

Like Romper Room and Bozo the Clown, Boomtown corralled a kaboodle of goofy kids before the TV cameras to compete for prizes. My brother was selected to compete and walked out with a bag full of Hoodsie Cups as his reward.

Boomtown premiered on Channel 4 on April 28, 1956. The show signed off in 1974. After the show ended, Trailer hosted its replacement Earth Lab. The show was nationally syndicated.

In 1977, Trailer began teaching on-camera performing and television production at Emerson College.

Rex Trailer, born September 16, 1928, in Thurber, Texas, was a cowboy, actor, singer and television producer. He was also an amazing pitchman for the Boston-based Crimson Travel, leading charter flights to Disneyland, Australia, and Ireland.

Enshrined in the Massachusetts Broadcasters Hall of Fame, Trailer died in Miami, Florida on January 9, 2013. He was 84.