When Harry Met Clare . . .

HENRY & CLARE: AN INTIMATE PORTRAIT OF THE LUCES

by Ralph G. Martin; Putnam; 463 pages; $24.95

The first serious encounter between the co-founder of this magazine and the ^ woman who became his second wife took place at a 1934 dinner given by mutual friends. Clare Boothe Brokaw sat at Henry R. Luce's right, but they scarcely talked, and he left early; she thought him fascinating but incredibly rude. Two months later, at a Waldorf-Astoria party honoring Cole Porter, it was a different story. Oblivious to other guests, including his then spouse Lila, Luce sat with Brokaw at a corner...