Page 2 – LIFE

An Early Traveler on the Path from Brooklyn to Buddhism

July 30, 2025July 30, 2025 by Bill Syken

The trail that begins in Brooklyn and leads to an ashram in the Far East was most famously travelled by author Elizabeth Gilbert, who wrote about it in her wildly popular book Eat, Pray Love. But she was of course not the first to take that journey, as Americans have been finding appeal in the ideas of Buddhism since the mid-1800s. A 1950 issue of LIFE featured a story headlined “Buddhist from Brooklyn,” which told the story of a 21-year-old man whose devotion to the religion inspired him to start a new life overseas.

His story is mostly about the praying. There is very little eating, and the topic of love does not come up.

That man’s name was Charles Randolph Buckalew Jr., and he lived in the Brooklyn, N.Y. neighborhood known as East Flatbush. The LIFE story does not indicate if he was a descendant of Charles Rollin Buckalew, who was a U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania in the 1800s. The only background we learn about him is that he was the son of a bank receptionist, and that he began to read about Buddhism when he was 10 years old.

Eventually Buckalew decided to change his name to Jinaloka —which means “Light of Buddha”—and head to Sri Lanka (known then as Ceylon) to live the life of a devoted Buddhist and become ordained in the faith.

When LIFE caught up with him at the time of his ordainment, he had already been studying abroad for two years. Here was LIFE’s brief explanation of Buckalew’s decision to become a Buddhist:

With his conversion Buckalew resolved a problem that had been bothering him since his days in P.S. 115. It was hard, he felt, to reconcile Christianity with science or the morality of the times. He believes that Buddhism, with its disregard for the material things in life, will bring him peace of mind.

At the beginnings of his life at the monastery. Jinaloka’s head was shaven, and he was given a begging bowl, a razor, three long yellow robes and a needle and thread. The photos by Dmitri Kessel document the spare life upon which Jinaloka was embarking, which included eating just one meal a day. Another photo shows him scooping water from a tank and pouring it over himself as a way of taking a bath.

The story stated that Jinaloka’s plan was to stay in Sri Lanka for four years before returning home and attempting to spread the word about Buddhism in the United States. It’s not clear to what extent his designs came to fruition, but today Buddhism has a strong presence in his former borough, with Buddhist meditation centers dotting Brooklyn, for those who want to practice the religion but stay a little closer to home.

Charles Randolph Buckalew Jr., formerly of Brooklyn, had his head shaved when he joined a Buddhist order in Sri Lanka, 1950.

Dmitri Kessel/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

In Sri Lanka Jinaloka (second from right) and his fellow Buddhists ate one meal a day, served at 11:30 a.m., which consisted of rice, vegetables, fruit and sometimes meat, 1950.

Dmitri Kessel/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Jinaloka, a young man who moved from Brooklyn, N.Y. to Sri Lanka to live as a Buddhist, ate his daily meal, 1950.

Dmitri Kessel/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Jinaloka, a former Brooklyn resident who moved to Sri Lanka for Buddhism, bathed by scooping water from a stone tank, 1950.

Dmitri Kessel/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Jinaloka, a former Brooklyn resident who moved to Sri Lanka for Buddhism, studied language in his room to help him read original Buddhist scriptures, 1950.

Dmitri Kessel/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Jinaloka, a former Brooklyn resident who moved to Sri Lanka for Buddhism, studied in his room, 1950.

Dmitri Kessel/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Former Brooklynite Charles Randolph Buckalew Jr. moved to Sri Lanka to become a Buddhist. He changed his name to Jinaloka, which means “Light of Buddha,” 1950.

Dmitri Kessel/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Jinaloka, a former Brooklyn resident who relocated to Sri Lanka, shared an evening prayer with his fellow Buddhists, 1950.

Dmitri Kessel/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Building the Future: Inside General Electric, 1937

July 25, 2025July 25, 2025 by Bill Syken

As American corporations go, few have a history that runs as deep as General Electric. Its roots trace back to Thomas Edison; GE was formed in 1892 when a conglomerate built around Edison’s inventions merged with another conglomerate. GE was one of the original 12 companies in the Dow Jones Industrial Average back in 1896.

The company has had its hand in many technological advances over its storied history. General Electric was behind the first television broadcast in 1928. The first night baseball game, in Cincinnati in 1935, was played under GE lights. During World War II the company made the turbojets for America’s first jet aircraft. Aerospace, health care and information systems are part of a long list of fields in which the company has made a mark.

The breadth of the GE operations underlines the great variety of activity that legendary LIFE photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt documented when he gained access to the General Electric operations back in 1937. What he captured is visually amazing, and also obscure in its details; these photos were for a story that never ran in the magazine, so we don’t know precisely what is happening in every picture. But we do know what was happening in a broad sense: these workers were shaping the future.

Looking back from the vantage point of the 21st century, what stands out about this GE manufacturing operation is how physical it was. This was 1937, and there is not a computer in sight. It was at the forefront of technology, but people were doing everything with their hands.

Some of the coolest photos are the ones that Eisenstadt took of a man handling a light bulb. It’s fitting. Not only was the light bulb one of the company’s foundational products, but those bulbs are a place where consumers today can still see the General Electric logo. Billions of lighting products carrying the GE brand are still bought every year—even if GE actually sold its light bulb business to a smart home company called Savant in 2020.

That General Electric name still means a lot—as you would expect, given its long history.

Inside a General Electric laboratory in Boston, 1937.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

General Electric’s light laboratory, 1937.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Inside a General Electric laboratory, 1937.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Inside a General Electric laboratory, 1937.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shuttesttock

Inside a General Electric laboratory, 1937.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Workers ate their meals at General Electric’s company’s cafeteria, 1937

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Le Mans: A Crown Jewel of Motorsports

July 17, 2025July 17, 2025 by Bill Syken

The 2025 summer blockbuster movie F1, starring Brad Pitt, includes several races in Europe, which has a grand history with auto racing. During the heyday of LIFE magazine’s original run racing was pretty much the top sport on the continent, and in 1953 the magazine sent staff photographer Frank Scherschel to cover one of its marquee races, 24 Hours of Le Mans.

As its name suggests, 24 Hours of Le Mans is an endurance event, where victory is about who goes the furthest in the allotted time, rather than who reaches the finish line first. Drivers switch off with teammates during the round-the-clock race, which takes place on a mix of tracks and city streets. The mix of surfaces meant that Le Mans cars were designed in a way that made them look more like everyday vehicles than your average race car.

Le Mans was once characterized by Sports Illustrated as “more a happening than a neat sports competition” owing to the spread-out nature of the course and also the duration of the competition. The photos Scherschel took for LIFE reflect that. The scene looks like a music festival as must as it does a sporting event. In addition to capturing the action on the track, he took in the entire scene, including the track’s popular “La Maison du Cafe”—coffee was going to be the drink of choice for many at a 24-hour-event. Although the track also had a “Le Vin de Bordeaux” concession stand, a reminder that this was, after all, France.

Scherschel was sure to capture the most distinctive element of the race back then, which was known as the “Le Mans start.” Drivers stood opposite where their cars were lined up, and then when the starter’s pistols fired they ran to their cars, hit the ignition and pulled out. That style of start was phased out for safety reasons in 1969.

While the start has changed, the 24 Hours of Le Mans continues today, and it stands as the oldest endurance race in the world. In June 2025 the 93rd running of the race was won by a Ferrari team for the third year in a row.

The Le Mans road race, 1953.

Frank Scherschel/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Alberto Ascari (second from right), who would win the Formula One season championship that year, hung out with group of racers in the dugout at the Le Mans road race, 1953.

Frank Scherschel/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The Le Mans road race, 1953.

Frank Scherschel/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Back in 1953 the Le Mans road race began with the drivers making a running start to their cars.

Frank Scherschel/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The Le Mans road race, 1953.

Frank Scherschel/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The Le Mans road race stretched into the nighttime hours, 1953.

Frank Scherschel/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The Le Mans road race, 1953.

Frank Scherschel/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Journey to a Vanished Fisherman’s Paradise

July 11, 2025July 11, 2025 by Bill Syken

In 2010 the PBS program Nature visited what remained of the legendary Cabo Blanco Fishing Club in Peru. The club was known for the massive fish that its members once pulled from the nearby waters. Those waters teemed with marlin and tuna and other big fish because that was where two major ocean currents came together, the chilly Humboldt Current and the warmer Pacific Equatorial Current. This meeting had the effect of driving plankton to the surface and creating an all-you-can-eat buffet for its larger predators. People had such an easy time finding trophy fish that the spot gained the nickname Marlin Boulevard.

In 1953 Alfred C. Glassell Jr., a Texas oilman who was one of the founders of the Cabo Blanco Fishing Club, reeled in a black marlin that weighed a record 1,560 pounds. His catch still stands as the mark for that kind of fish. Glassell’s long wrestling match with his marlin was so momentous that footage of it was used in the 1958 film version of Old Man and the Sea. That catch was obviously extreme, but it was also representative of the kind of mammoth fish that found in historic numbers at Cabo Blanco.

Back then, at least.

When Nature went to Cabo Blanco nearly 60 years after that record catch, reporters found a club that had been abandoned and its fishing waters depleted.

Here was the explanation for what happened:

In the years that followed Glassell’s record-breaking catch, a dramatic increase in the commercial fishing of anchovies, which are often used for fishmeal or bait, led to a significant decline in this important billfish food source. According to some, a particularly severe El Niño event in the Pacific likely compounded their scarcity. In 1970, the Cabo Blanco Fishing Club finally closed its doors, due to the military rule of General Juan Velasco Alvarado and the hostile environment toward North Americans his policies engendered. The giant billfish were gone, and so were the tourists.

LIFE magazine was fortunate enough to visit Cabo Blanco in 1959, when the club was still in its heyday. Staff photographer Frank Schershel captured the fisherman out at sea and along the shore. He documented one boat bringing in a 337-pound tuna—which was no record-setter, but still plenty big. Schershel showed the collection of marlin tails in the club parking lot, and the club’s board of big catches. The club also had on display its first thousand-pound catch, reeled in by Glassell in 1952 (his record-setting marlin the next year was donated to the Smithsonian).

Cabo Blanco was enough of a hot spot that it reportedly attracted the likes of Marilyn Monroe, Ernest Hemingway, John Wayne, Paul Newman down to Peru to fish and/or enjoy the scene.

While that heyday is long gone, some people still head to Cabo Blanco where, according to the travel blog Trans-American journey, the main recreational activity is now surfing.

When people do fish, they are mainly coming away those little anchovies, which can fit in the palm of your hand.

Members of the Cabo Blanco Fishing Club out on the sea, Peru, 1959.

Frank Schershel/Life Photo Collection/Shutterstock

Big fish in the water at Cabo Blanco, Peru, 1959.

Frank Schershel/Life Photo Collection/Shutterstock

Members of the Cabo Blanco Fishing Club bringing home a big catch, Peru, 1959.

Frank Schershel/Life Photo Collection/Shutterstock

A 337-lb. tuna caught at Cabo Blanco, Peru by member of the Cabo Blanco Fishing Club, 1959.

Frank Schershel/Life Photo Collection/Shutterstock

The weight of a freshly caught tuna is marked on its body In Cabo Blanco, Peru, 1959.

Cabo Blanco Fishing

A 337-lb. tuna caught by member of the Cabo Blanco Fishing Club in Peru, 1959.

Frank Schershel/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Marlin tails were displayed in driveway of the Cabo Blanco Fishing Club in Peru, 1959.

Frank Schershel/Life Photo Collection/Shutterstock

A history of big fish-catches was displayed in the lobby of Cabo Blanco Fishing Club in Peru, 1959.

Frank Schershel/Life Photo Collection/Shutterstock

Members of Cabo Blanco Fishing Club discussed equipment, Peru, 1959.

Frank Schershel/Life Photo Collection/Shutterstock

A historic trophy on display at the Cabo Blanco Fishing Club in Peru, 1959.

Frank Schershel/Life Photo Collection/Shutterstock

Fishing off the shore in Cabo Blanco, Peru, 1959.

Frank Schershel/Life Photo Collection/Shutterstock

Fishing off the shore in Cabo Blanco, Peru, 1959.

Fishing off the shore in Cabo Blanco, Peru, 1959.

Frank Schershel/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The Smurfs: The Joy of Being Blue

July 10, 2025July 10, 2025 by Bill Syken

The following text is adapted from the introduction to LIFE’s new special issue The Smurfs, available at newsstands and online.

In 2011, people around the world donned white caps and pants and painted their faces (and in some cases entire bodies) blue in celebration of the Smurfs. Dozens of Smurf figurines appeared in the Champs de Mars in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. The small Spanish town of Júzcar was painted blue and filled with Smurf-themed murals and statues. And in New York, a giant inflatable Smurf made its way around the city, appearing in Central Park and South Street Seaport. By the end of the day, the event, dubbed Global Smurfs Day, broke the world record for “Largest Gathering of People Dressed as Smurfs Within a 24-hour Period in Multiple Venues,” with nearly 5,000 people participating.

This happened more than 20 years after the heyday of the television show and more than 50 years after the Smurfs first appeared in a Belgian comic series about the adventures of a medieval pageboy and his jester sidekick. The word “Smurf” has been translated into 55 languages, and the brand has a 95 percent global awareness.

The Smurfs are ubiquitous—you can find their faces on everything from keychains to billboards around the world—and they have attracted some pretty big star power through the years. The 2025 animated musical film Smurfs will star Octavia Spencer, Nick Offerman and James Corden, and the soundtrack will feature original songs by global pop superstar Rihanna, who is also playing Smurfette. “I hope this gives me a little bit of cool points with my kids one day,” she joked at CinemaCon 2023, when she announced her role in the movie.

Designed by Belgian comic writer and artist Pierre Culliford—better known by his nickname Peyo—the Smurfs first appeared in Peyo’s comic series Johan et Pirlouit (Johan and Peewit in English). In a 1958 story called “The Smurfs and the Magic Flute,” the series’ titular characters track down the creators of a magic flute: 100 tiny blue gnomes who live in an idyllic forest village.

Readers instantly fell in love. From their bright-blue skin to their delightful adventures and straightforward personalities (Hefty is strong, Brainy is smart, and so on), the Smurfs had an appeal that proved timeless. Since their debut, the Smurfs have appeared in more than 50 comic volumes, 256 episodes of the NBC animated show, three (soon to be four) feature films, more than 100 episodes of a reboot show, and on thousands of pieces of merchandise. So what’s so special about these tiny blue creatures?

Walt Disney was Peyo’s biggest inspiration. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, was one of the only American movies that he was able to see while living in Nazi-occupied Belgium, so it’s no surprise that Peyo’s Smurfs seem akin to Disney’s dwarfs. According to animator Philippe Capart in the documentary From the World of Peyo to Planet Smurf, Peyo adopted Disney’s style of creating round characters: “To draw a Smurf, you almost only need curves. There are no angles at all, so we have something really round and friendly.”

The Smurfs’ most distinguishing feature, their color, also charmed fans. The hue was actually selected by Peyo’s wife, Nine, who served as his colorist. After ruling out other colors, like red, because it would look angry, or green, because it would blend into the foliage, Nine settled on blue. Largely associated with positive feelings like calmness, trustworthiness, and stability, blue is a beloved color worldwide. It is the most popular favorite color for both men and women, and studies have found that it can have physiological effects like lowering heart rate. Blue is also widely accepted globally and considered positive in most cultures. These days, many children’s characters are blue (think Blue from Blue’s Clues, Stitch, Bluey, and Sully), but Peyo led the charge, creating a creature that is inviting and adorable to children (both boys and girls) and also adults.

The Smurf visage is so popular that even if you’ve never seen a minute of The Smurfs or read a single page of the comic, you recognize them. This is in part thanks to the robust collectibles market that sprang up almost immediately after their debut when a popular cereal brand began putting Smurf figurines in its boxes.

Indeed, toy versions of the Smurfs made their way stateside long before the comic or the TV show, and American television executive Fred Silverman was inspired to create the Smurfs show after purchasing a stuffed Smurf for his daughter in the resort town of Aspen, Colorado. With new figurines released annually, more than 300 million have been sold worldwide by now.

For kids, Smurf figurines are cute small toys with special personalities and accessories, akin to Lego minifigures or Polly Pockets. For adults, they make for the perfect collectible—they’re nostalgic and can be found at a range of prices (newer figurines cost around $6, but rarer vintage ones can cost more than $200). Each Smurf is simultaneously uniform and unique.

Beyond their design, the Smurfs’ world is timeless. Taking place in a medieval wonderland, the stories and vibe resonate just as much with audiences in 2025 as they did in the 1960s. The Smurfs are jolly (even when the evil wizard Gargamel tries to sabotage them, there is always a happy ending), they live in a blissful community that values collaboration and friendship, and they speak in “Smurf,” a charming and easily mimicked dialect. “The simplicity possessed by The Smurfs is not childish, but childlike,” wrote Felix James Miller, cohost of the podcast Truth, Beauty, Comics. “They rejoice in the world that surrounds them, just as we readers are meant to do.”

Since that first Global Smurf Day in 2011, there have been many more, celebrated each year on the closest Saturday to Peyo’s birthday, June 25. Decades after their first appearance in a Belgian comic, people still dress up like Smurfs, speak in Smurf, and consume Smurf content on Global Smurf Day and every day.

What’s so special about the Smurfs? Maybe we want to be them, living in harmony in an idyllic village in the forest. Maybe the company has perfectly nailed the changing trends in media consumption and kept us hooked. Or maybe they’re just really, really cute.

—By Ava Erickson ●

Here are a selection of images from LIFE’s new special issue The Smurfs.

Cover image courtesy © Peyo 2025. Licensed through I.M.P.S./Lafig Belgium www.smurf.com

As a child, Smurfs creator Peyo escaped the real world through theater (opposite, third from left in a production of Puss in Boots).

Courtesy © Peyo 2025. Licensed through I.M.P.S./Lafig Belgium www.smurf.com

The first Smurfs, 1958.

Courtesy © Peyo 2025. Licensed through I.M.P.S./Lafig Belgium www.smurf.com

The Smurfs made their debut in the 1958 comic The Smurfs and the Magic Flute. In this panel Johan and Peewit are introduced to Papa Smurf (aka le Grand Schtroumpf): “Papa Smurf, meet Johan and Peewit!” “If that’s the big Smurf, then I’m the huge Peewit!”

Courtesy © Peyo 2025. Licensed through I.M.P.S./Lafig Belgium www.smurf.com

Smurf creator Peyo sketching, 1964.

Courtesy © Peyo 2025. Licensed through I.M.P.S./Lafig Belgium www.smurf.com

Peyo (right) collaborated with film editor Jean Delire (left) and director Eddy Ryssack (center) for 1965’s Les Aventures des Schtroumpfs.

Courtesy © Peyo 2025. Licensed through I.M.P.S./Lafig Belgium www.smurf.com

The Smurf stories take place in a timeless medieval wonderland.

Courtesy © Peyo 2025. Licensed through I.M.P.S./Lafig Belgium www.smurf.com

Peyo with some Smurfy toys in 1984. By the 1980s, the brand had expanded into all kinds of merchandising, including theme parks, toys, and breakfast cereal.

Photo by Marc DEVILLE/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images

Smurfs invaded the Great Wall in Beijing, China, in celebration for Global Smurfs Day 2013.

Photo by Zhang Miao/Sony Pictures Entertainment via Getty Images

Nick Offerman plays red-bearded Ken, brother up Papa Smurf, in the 2025 Smurfs movie.

Paramount Animation

Rihanna voices Smurfette in the 2025 movie “Smurfs.”

Paramount Animation

“Look What I Found”: The Joys of Low Tide

July 3, 2025July 3, 2025 by Bill Syken

Anyone who has spent much time at the beach knows of the special appeal of low tide. That is when the water pulls back its cover and beachcombers walk along the shore to see what has been revealed—be it a clam or a special seashell, a cool-looking rock, or anything else that might inspire the finder to say, “Hey, look what I found.”

LIFE wrote about this rite of summer in a story titled “Low Tide: Odd Creatures Fill Pools.” The particular setting of this story was Kennebunkport, Maine, but the phenomenon it described is familiar to beachlovers everywhere.

High tide along the coast of Maine is magnificent. The sea surges in, roaring over the rocks and beating fierce spray into the air. Low tide along the coast is not nearly so grand but it is much more interesting. After the water gurgles out of the rocky coastal pools, the tiny creatures of the shore and sand can be seen in shallow puddles—the scurrying crabs, the dawdling snails, the immovable barnacles, the curious starfish and see urchins.

The LIFE story featured images from staff photographer Bernard Hoffman which focussed primarily on the children enjoying the tidal pools, and also close-up images of the sea creatues taken by nature writer Rutherford Platt. His pictures of starfish, crabs and more can be seen in the original magazine story.

Hoffman’s images are in this online gallery. Both have their appeal. But for anyone who spent their childhood summers exploring at low tide, Hoffman’s images capture the spirit of what it was like to be at the beach, feet in the wet sand, eyes focussed on the ground, in search of the next amazing discovery.