Rex Trailer, 1928-2013, R.I.P.

Bit by bit, pieces of my childhood are dying. I guess it's only natural, as my childhood was so blasted long ago, but still...! 

On January 9th, a man named Rex Trailer died. That name may not mean much to you -- if anything -- unless you're roughly my age and grew up in New England, but Rex was, among many other things, a cowboy TV star who hosted a Boston kiddie show called Boomtown. (Boomtown ran on weekends from 1956-1974.)

  

I actually got to meet Rex Trailer -- born Rexford Traylor -- in 2006, at the comic store I used to work at, That's Entertainment.

While there, I got Rex to sign one of my favorite eBay finds, a coloring book featuring Rex and another kiddie show host of my childhood, "Big Brother" Bob Emery.

Rex was a "real" cowboy, born in  Texas, no less. He'd worked the rodeo circuit while still a teen, and was an expert rider who was skilled with a bullwhip, a pistol, or lasso. He was a television pioneer who ended up running his own show in Philadelphia before landing in Massachusetts in 1956... the same year I "landed" here, actually.

Yes, that's Jayne Mansfield. Lucky Rex!

Here's a photo of Boston kiddie show hosts from the three main channels, WBZ-TV

(channel four, Rex's channel), WHDH-TV (channel five) and WNAC-TV (channel seven).

And here's a relatively recent photo of Rex. The gent on the far left
is Frank Avruch, who was our local Bozo when I was a boy.

I'm just going to throw a few more photos at you before wrapping this up. There's not much more I can add without giving a full biography of the man! And if you want that, click here!

This shot is of my sister Kathy on Rex's horse, Gold Rush.
I, too, had a photo taken that day, but it's long gone!

Adios, Rex...

And thanks for your time.