• January 19, 1976
• Vol. 5
• No. 2

Lookout

Guy Peirce is one of those magic men who turn mid-Manhattan store windows into fashionable pedestrian-stoppers. Only 20, he has been doing artwork for window displays for two years and counts among his clients Cartier, Charles Jourdan, Henri Bendel and B. Altman. Most of his window designs are large cardboard cutouts of his drawings of famous personalities and entertainers like Fred Astaire and Jean Harlow. Above, Peirce is reclining in front of a painting of Harlow in Cartier's window. He has taken no formal art training because, he fears, "in many cases it hinders the true creativity of the artist by dictating the use of particular styles." He says his interest in art was inspired by the film The Wizard of Oz. "It fascinated me to the point where I wanted to reproduce it in some way, so I took to drawing scenes from the movie on my father's shirt boards." Dropping out of high school, Peirce had several jobs—including stock boy at Cartier and salesman at Mark Cross—before being commissioned by Bendel's to do Harlow cutouts. Looking through the glass, he sees himself moving on to create designs for posters and linen—"like Peter Max."

Denise Selden, 29, likes to tell a story on herself. While she was working late at a brokerage office where she was a stockbroker, the phone rang. "When the woman heard my voice she told someone nearby, 'It's too late. There's no one there. A girl answered.' And she hung up." To Denise, it provided fresh reason for her fight to break into high finance—a battle she has won. Today, she's the only utilities equities analyst at Boston's State Street Bank and Trust Company. At 18 Denise was a Brandeis University dropout who couldn't find a job even as a waitress. An uncle, a Registered Trader on the New York Stock Exchange, helped her get started on Wall Street. After 14 months of clerical work, she headed for Boston and more clerking. Still determined, she took a home-study course in the mechanics of the Stock Exchange. By 23 she was licensed. Although she never saw her license test results, her employers told her it was "the highest possible score." Meanwhile, she had returned to Brandeis and earned an art degree. Denise analyzes public utility stock for use in trust funds and is often quoted in investment periodicals. "I feel completely accepted. I am very competent."