Through a Glass Darkly

Saks may be doing its damnedest to recapture the magic of childhood, whatever that is, but Lord & Taylor's Peter Pan probably comes closer to the spirit of many New Yorkers who live in child-sized houses and want what they want now! Tied to the Cathy Rigby revival currently on Broadway, the windows feature a Peter who looks uncomfortably like Alfred E. Newman, a jolie-laide Darling family, and a delicate Tinker Bell who seems to hail from a different prop shop than the rest of the ensemble (her gossamer appearance has more in common with the Victorian sprites now on view at the Frick Museum than the covers of old Madmagazines). At any rate, the familiar cast of characters flies through a number of adventures lifted from J.M. Barrie's convoluted text (pirates, clock-swallowing crocodiles, etc.) and the whole business is certainly exhaustively animated: even Nana can't stop nodding her head.

The creepy head over at Macy's isn't just nodding, it's also pontificating. Floating behind the window surface at the 151 West 34th Street entrance, a 3-D Mayor Giuliani gives a two-minute lecture on the joys of New York, including the wonders of Macy's, and ends by asking the public, "What miracle would you like to have happen this year?" (Apparently one answer—the miraculous midterm removal of a sitting mayor from office—hasn't occurred to him.) Looming over the marquee is the legend "Rudolf at Macy's." Despite the inflated reindeer balloon accompanying this sentiment, the viewer can't help wondering which Rudy the store is really extolling.