Broadcast: August 29, 2004
(THEME)
VOICE ONE:
I'm Steve Ember.
VOICE TWO:
And I'm Gwen Outen with People in America in VOA Special English. Today we
tell about a woman who became famous for her activities in government, the
media and the arts. She was a member of Congress and an ambassador. She was a
news reporter and magazine editor. And she wrote plays. Her name was Clare
Boothe Luce.
(THEME)
VOICE ONE:
Clare Boothe Luce was one of the most influential women in modern American
history. Yet she came from simple roots. She was born in New York City in
nineteen-oh-three. Clare's father was a musician and businessman. Her mother
had been a dancer.
While Clare was a girl, her parents ended their marriage. She and her brother
stayed with their mother. Their mother did not have a lot of money. Yet she
was able to send Clare to very good schools. Her mother then married a doctor
from Connecticut. Clare's stepfather, Albert Austin, later served in the
United States House of Representatives.
VOICE TWO:
As a young woman, Clare Boothe was known for her intelligence and good looks.
She met her first husband through a family friend. George Tuttle Brokaw was a
wealthy man. He also was more than twenty years older than Clare. They were
married in nineteen-twenty-three and had one child – a daughter. However,
her husband had a problem with alcoholic drinks. Their marriage ended after
only six years.
Clare developed a serious interest in writing. In nineteen-thirty, a friend,
the magazine publisher Conde Nast, offered her a job. She wrote comments for
pictures published in Vogue, a magazine for women about clothes and fashion.
A short time later, she accepted a job at other magazine, Vanity Fair. She
wrote reports about social events and famous people in New York. Later these
reports were published in a book.
VOICE ONE:
Clare Boothe became a top editor at Vanity Fair. She worked there until
nineteen-thirty-four. By then, she was also writing plays. One play was
called "Abide With Me." It was about a man who mistreats his wife. "Abide
With Me" opened in a theater on Broadway in New York City in nineteen-thirty
-five. Critics hated it.
Two days after the show opened, Clare Boothe married Henry Robinson Luce. He
was a famous and important magazine publisher. He published Time and Fortune
magazines. She had first met Henry Luce at a party in New York. At the time,
he was married and had two children. He and Clare were married a short time
after a court order canceled his first marriage. They would stay together for
more than thirty years.
((MUSIC))
VOICE TWO:
Clare Boothe Luce returned to writing plays. Her second play, "The Women,"
made fun of rich women. It opened on Broadway in nineteen-thirty-six. The
show was very popular. It was later made into a movie. Another play, "Kiss
the Boys Goodbye," also was a success. So was her next play, "Margin For
Error." All three plays were noted for their use of sharp language and making
fun of human failings.
Clare Boothe Luce was known for expressing her opinions. Her most famous
saying was: "No good deed goes unpunished." She often spoke about the
problems of women trying to succeed in a world mainly controlled by men. She
said: "Because I am a woman, I must make unusual efforts to succeed. If I
fail, no one will say, 'She doesn't have what it takes.' They will say,
'Women don't have what it takes." She made these comments in a speech to the
National Press Club in Washington, D.C.
((VOICE))
We women are supposed to be a minority. I've never understood that myself
because we outnumber the men in actual numbers, and we live five years
longer. So I've never felt like a minority because, as you know, minorities
are never supposed to say anything unkind about one another.
VOICE ONE:
In nineteen-forty, Clare Boothe Luce traveled to Europe as a reporter for
Life magazine, which was published by her husband. She visited a number of
countries and later wrote reports about how people were dealing with World
War Two. She wrote a book about this called "Europe in Spring." In the book,
she noted that people were living in "a world where men have decided to die
together because they are unable to find a way to live together. She also
reported from Africa, China, India and Burma for Life magazine.
In nineteen-forty-two, her stepfather, Albert Austin, died. Missus Luce
agreed to be the Republican Party candidate for his seat in the House of
Representatives from Connecticut. She was elected and entered Congress in
January, nineteen-forty-three.
