China Girls / Leader Ladies | Northwest Chicago Film Society

Here’s our collection of from-the-rewind-bench snapshots of “China Girls” (or “Leader Ladies,” as I like to call them) – the photographs of (usually) women that sometimes appear in the countdown that begins every reel of theatrical footage, often in the company of some color bars. Their images were used by film lab workers setting color timing or black and white density – and they were often film lab workers themselves.

The origin of the term “China Girl” is a matter of debate (though attempts have been made to discover it). In France, they’re called “Lili,” perhaps after the traditional name of the slate used in Technicolor shoots?

Whatever you call them, their presence on the film (secretly sharing space with Hollywood’s starlets) is a fleeting visual document of the film industry’s vast off-screen labor pool. They remind us that every film made on film stock has a physical history, that each print we encounter in the projection booth, or projected onto the screen from the audience (or reproduced digitally on a laptop screen) passed through the hands of lab workers and technicians before it came to us. (In fact, the creator of the successor of the traditional China Girl, the “LAD Girl” – pictured below – won an Oscar in 2001 for his work. His acceptance speech can be seen here, and an excerpt can be read at the very bottom of this page).

The most substantial study of “China Girls” that we know of was assembled by Julie Buck and Karin Segal at the Harvard Film Archive in 2006. Write-ups of their exhibition of frame restorations can be read here or here. They also used their work to assemble a wonderful short subject called “Girls on Film“. A similar French exhibition in 2009 also produced a short subject, which included some stunning examples we have never seen on this side of the Atlantic.

Here is a diagram of typical film head leader. “China Girls” usually appear somewhere between the “10″ and the “3″ shown in the countdown below (though they appear elsewhere as well).

: Haven’t we seen you somewhere before ?

: From a 16mm print of Amy Greenfield’s ELEMENT

: Movielab, the worst lab in the history of NYC. Courtesy of Benjamin Tucker.

: GTC. Class of 1983. Courtesy of Benjamin Tucker.

: GTC. 18% Grey. Courtesy of Benjamin Tucker.

: A custom job form Australia’s Cinevex. Courtesy of Benjamin Tucker.

: Too much color in this one. Courtesy of Benjamin Tucker.

: Faded, but not forgotten. Courtesy of Benjamin Tucker.

: An in-house girl from France’s late GTC laboratory. Courtesy of Benjamin Tucker.

: LAD Punk. Courtesy of Benjamin Tucker.

: ECN 76 – from a print of FOUL PLAY. Courtesy of Benjamin Tucker.

: Courtesy of Benjamin Tucker.

: An oddly affecting Leader Lady. Courtesy of Benjamin Tucker.

: This is a test … Courtesy of Benjamin Tucker.

: Understated elegance. Courtesy of Benjamin Tucker.

: Three girls, one film. Courtesy of Benjamin Tucker.

: Our new favorite. Courtesy of Benjamin Tucker.

: From the British Kinematograph, Sound, and Television Society. Courtesy of Benjamin Tucker.

: Colorfilm. Anyone know anything about them? A predecessor to Cinevex? Courtesy of Benjamin Tucker.

: This one looks dangerous. Courtesy of Benjamin Tucker.

: Hey, I have a hot date tonight at ARRI’s apartment! Can you believe it? Courtesy of Benjamin Tucker.

: One of the few non-white Leader Ladies. Courtesy of Benjamin Tucker.

: Tense Variant. Courtesy of Benjamin Tucker.

: WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF – 35mm print – Blinking Leader Lady from Pacific Title & Art Studio

: WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF [Detail]

: Elizabeth Taylor, the most famous Leader Lady of them all?

: From a 35mm print of Aki Kaurismaki’s THE MAN WITHOUT A PAST. Ragged print, luminous LAD.

: From a faded original 35mm print of BLACK CHRISTMAS.

: BLACK CHRISTMAS print. [Detail]

: Another blink – “A”. We’ve only seen this once before!

: Another blink – “A” – close up

: Artificial Girl – Deluxe London Laboratory, “Doll U”

: Artificial Girl – Deluxe London Laboratory, “Doll U” – close up

: Kodak LAD – GTC

: China Couple – BKSTS Test Film 3. This vaguely matrimonial pair was on the head of a print of the Rocky Horror Picture Show!

: China Couple – BKSTS Test Film 3. 35mm version.

: LAD Girl for a doubled Techniscope negative (we think – she’s from a print of “The Ghost and Mr. Chicken”).

: LAD Girl in Techniscope – close up

: Little Blondie Diamond Eyes, from a print in the collections of the Chicago Film Archives.

: 16mm from the Chicago Film Archives. Very rare example of a leader lady in motion – she blinks! The full sequence can be viewed here

: Psychedelic Shirt Lady #2. From a 16mm print in the Chicago Film Archives collections.

: Kodak 79 EC (Psychedelic Shirt Lady #1). From a 16mm print in the Chicago Film Archives collections.

: From a 16mm print in the Chicago Film Archives collections. The rest of the print is colored normally; the blue tint on this lady is a mystery!

: Red Plaid – EFB-70 – 16mm. From a print found in a trash bin.

: Lace Collar – close up

: Lace Collar – in context

: “Electron Filmworks” – close up – In-house leader lady of Deluxe EFilm Digital Laboratories

: “Electron Filmworks” – in context

: 16mm Agfa lady in a white slip.

: Fur collar lady, close up.
A common face on films from the 1930s.

: Fur collar lady, 16mm

: Fur Collar, 35mm, underexposed

: Fur Collar in context. Rather an insensitive contrast…

: Burning gaze, 35mm close-up

: Burning gaze, 16mm

: From an original 1976 print of THE OMEN. Satanic milkiness

: Lipstick brightens the greyest days…

: Rather an exotic variant.

: Her name is Alfred.

: A Japanese variant from Shinoda Masahiro’s PALE FLOWER in a new 35mm print from our friends at Janus Films.

: A little leader lady

: From a sixties-era 16mm print of Dreyer’s PASSION DE JEANNE D’ARC derives from materials held by the Cinematheque francaise.

: From a 35mm print of the 1957 version of 3:10 TO YUMA. Not Felicia Farr.

: The text on the pinwheel behind her reads “SHARP FOCUS”. She’s from an original print of Cassavetes’ TOO LATE BLUES.

: You can’t see it in this frame (taken from a faded print of Douglas Sirk’s IMITATION OF LIFE), but her placard reads “General Film” at the bottom.

: From an original IB Technicolor print of THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH

: In-house leader lady for A1 Film Lab of New York City, now closed.

: Kodak LAD (Laboratory Aim Density) lady, variant 1. Technical details here.

: Kodak LAD (Laboratory Aim Density) lady, variant 2

: Kodak LAD (Laboratory Aim Density) lady, variant 3 (teeth)

: Kodak LAD (Laboratory Aim Density) lady, variant 3 (teeth) – 16mm

: “LAD Reference NEG May 1999″

: LAD ladies meet, #1

: LAD ladies meet, #2

: The digital LAD girl, close up. Usage information here.

: KODAK Digital LAD Test Image – in context

: KODAK Digital LAD Test Image – tiny, for some reason!

: Some digital color bars, sans girl.

: 16mm color bars, sans girl.

: Color squares from 35mm print of KLUTE, sans girl

Have your highlights lost their sparkle?
And the midtones lost their scale?
Are your shadows going smokey?
And the colors turning stale?
Have you lost a little business to labs whose pictures shine?
Because to do it right – takes a lot of time.
Well, here’s a brand new system. It’s simple as can be!
Its name is LAD – an acronym for Laboratory Aim Density.
- John P. Pytlak