Rex Trailer, 84, the native Texan beloved by a generation of New England children for the cowboy skills he demonstrated on the Boston-based television show Boomtown, died Wednesday at his family's home in Florida, said his friend and manager Michael Bavaro. He recently had fallen ill with pneumonia.
Mr. Trailer hosted Western-themed TV shows in Philadelphia for five years before landing in Boston in 1955.
Boomtown ran on Boston television from 1956 until 1974. Mr. Trailer was the host, singing, playing guitar, and showing off the horse-riding, roping, and other cowboy skills he learned as a boy on his grandfather's Texas ranch.
