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John Wilkes Booth was desperate to be famous. Instead, he became infamous as the man who assassinated President Abraham Lincoln. He had been born in 1838 as the ninth of ten children of the famed actor Junius Brutus Booth. Though he had shown talent, his career was often derailed by his emotional instability. His older brother Edwin Booth was considered one of the top actors of the day.

The handsome younger Booth had received strong reviews in a New York production of “Richard III” with the New York Herald declaring him a “veritable sensation.” Booth even told the paper “I’m determined to be the villain.” A staunch supporter of the Confederacy, by 1864 he had recruited several co-conspirators in his plan to kidnap Honest Abe. Their attempts failed, but on April 14, 1865, he learned Lincoln would attend the comedy “Our American Cousin” at Ford’s Theater that evening, During the third act...

The evening's surprise guest star David McCallum joins Robert Vaughn in acceding to Cinema Retro editor-in-chief Lee Pfeiffer's humorous demand that they sign his grade school Man From U.N.C.L.E. lunchbox. (Photo copyright: Tom Stroud)

By Lee Pfeiffer

Last evening, The Players club at Gramercy Park in New York City, in conjunction with Cinema Retro magazine, hosted a gala tribute dinner for member Robert Vaughn. The club dates back to 1888, when it was founded by actor Edwin Booth along with such luminaries as Mark Twain and General Sherman. The rich heritage continued with last evening's event. As Editor-in-Chief of Cinema Retro and a  member of The Players, I had long wanted to hold an event in honor of Vaughn's career. Club Executive Director John Martello and I began planning the evening months ago, working around Vaughn's schedule for filming his hit TV series Hustle in England.

On Sunday, November 22, The Players, the legendary New York City private club for the performing arts, will honor member Robert Vaughn with a gala dinner. Cinema Retro Editor in Chief Lee Pfeiffer will interview Vaughn on-stage for a discussion of his remarkable career and his recent autobiography A Fortunate Life. There will be screenings of relevant clips from Vaughn's work including The Magnficent Seven, Bullitt, The Towering Inferno,S.O.B, his current hit British series Hustle, Washington:Behind Closed Doors (for which he won the Emmy), Superman 3 and, of course, The Man From U.N.C.L.E. There will also be rarely seen early career footage of Vaughn's TV appearances. Ben Gazzara, Vaughn's co-star from The Bridge at Remagen, is scheduled to speak, as is actor Joseph Sirola, who guest-starred in several episodes of U.N.C.L.E. The date has special significance for Vaughn: it is his birthday and it is...

The Classical Theatre of Harlem announced today that artistic director Alfred Preisser (shown left) and executive director Christopher McElroen will vacate their positions this month. Preisser and McElroen founded the award-winning Off-Broadway company in 1999. Under their leadership, Cth has won 13 Audelco Awards, 6 Obie Awards, 2 Lucille Lortel Awards, a Drama Desk Award, an Edwin Booth Award for Outstanding Contribution to New York Theatre."Starting and leading this company has been a life-changing experience for me," Preisser said in a statement. "It's been a real privilege to be a part of Cth, and to have had the chance to work with the great artists and audience that have contributed to our success.  It's the best of what a life in the theatre has to offer.""I am forever grateful to the dedicated artists, audiences, funders and community partners that have brought their creativity and passion in support of the first eleven seasons...