Why secretary is still the top job for women

By Annalyn Kurtz for CNN Money, 2012

The Life and Times of J. Pierrepont Finch

Shepherd Mead’s handbook was satirizing a very specific time and place: New York City in the 1960s. Life Magazine has a vivid archive of photographs from the period, depicting the men and women of corporate metropolis at work and play, at home, at the office, and everywhere in between. Although ‘How to Succeed’ twists these people and places into an overt satire, looking at the world from which they were inspired provides some evocative and stunning windows into the world of JP Finch.

Crowding into an elevator, 1961

COSMOPOLITAN editor Helen Gurley Brown ecstatically hoisting a bottle of champagne at party celebrating her magazine’s millionth copy edition at their office.

Madison Avenue traffic, 1960.

A cleaning woman at a NYC office, 1961.

Catching the train at New Haven, 1961.

A typical NYC office coffee break, 1961.

A crowded day on the train, NYC, 1961.

A secretary hard at work, 1961.

A secretary snacking at her desk, 1960.

New Haven station, 1961.

A string of telephone booths, 1960.

A window washer on Madison Avenue, 1961.

The New York Stock Exchange, 1960.

NYC skyline, 1961.

A NYC office building, 1961.