1945: Indianapolis Women’s Department Club Hosts Academy Awarding Winning Chinese American Film Producer, Li Ling-Ai

August 2, 2024

The Women’s Department Club was started in Indianapolis in 1912 by Mrs. Luella McWhirter. While still presently active, this club and its members focus their efforts on community service, arts, and education related causes and projects. This club was and still is presently known to host a public lecture series.

On October 10, 1945, the club hosted Miss Li Ling-Ai, who was celebrated as a Chinese feminist. Her talk was titled, “Behind the Embroidered Fan”, where she spoke about the culture and resilience of the Chinese people, who just emerged from the yearslong Sino-Japanese War on September 2, 1945.

Actress and Producer Li Ling-Ai at the Claypool Hotel, 1945
Larry Foster Collection, IHS

But who was Li Ling-Ai? On Oct 7, 1945, the Indianapolis Star called her a “noted Chinese feminist.” Li Ling-Ai was much more than a feminist, she was an accomplished woman and was often ascribed the following attributes: actress, artist, author, aviator (or flier), dancer, designer, film producer, traveler, and lecturer. She was born in 1908 in Honolulu, Hawai’i to Chinese immigrant parents. Her parents were both doctors; her father was a physiologist, and her mother was an obstetrician. She attended the famed Punahou School (est. 1841) and the University of Hawai’i.

After she graduated college in 1930, she returned to China to attend the Peking Institute of Fine Arts (now known as Beijing Institute of the Arts) to learn more about traditional and contemporary Chinese arts, including theatre. Later, she taught at the Institute. Li Ling-Ai returned to the United States shortly before the start of the second Sino-Japanese war (1937-1945).

Upon her return to the United States, she produced theatre productions as fundraisers for Chinese aid. In 1937 she produced, along with Rey Scott, a color film documentary titled “Kukan” about the suffering of the Chinese people during the war. According to Li Ling-Ai, “Kukan” meant “persevering against all odds.” In 1941 “Kukan” made its debut in New York City. That same year Rey Scott was awarded Hollywood’s highest honor, an Academy Award. Initially, Li Ling-Ai was unfairly credited as the film’s “technical advisor”, not co-producer. It would be decades later before she was properly credited for her work. After the success of the film, she embarked on a national speaking tour in 1945, and made a stop in Indianapolis.

Headline for Li Ling-Ai’s Women’s Club Department Lecture,
Indianapolis Star, October 7, 1945

On Wednesday, October 10, 1945, at 2 pm Li Ling-Ai spoke to members and guests of the Women’s Department Club at their clubhouse, located at 1702 N. Meridian Street. She was feted with a tea after her lecture by then club president, Mrs. William A. Stuckey (Agnes). The celebrations continued with a late afternoon cocktail party in the suite of Mrs. Myrtella Snodgrass at the Claypool Hotel, who was the wife of the hotel manager, Thaddeus E. Snodgrass. Myrtella was a guest of club member Mrs. Olive Eisen Tinder.

Li Ling-Ai spoke with her fresh perspective of the hardships of the Sino-Japanese War, which had ended weeks earlier on September 2, 1945. She gave her prediction on how the post-war Chinese citizens could collectively achieve prosperity over the course of 50 or more years. She is quoted in the Indianapolis Star saying, “The people are sick of war and resulting bloodshed. They want to build as a peaceful nation.” At this time, she firmly believed that there would not be a “bloody civil war to breakout between Chiang Kai-shek’s forces and the communists as been predicted by some writers on the Far East”, due to an existing treaty between Russia and Chiang Kai-shek. However, her prediction was proven untrue. China entered a civil war in 1946, ending with a communist victory and the formation of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, led by Chairman Mao Zedong of the Chinese Communist Party.

The remainder of her life was filled with many creative pursuits, and she lived until the age of 95. In 2009, “Kukan,” which was previously thought to be a lost film, was found. Years later in 2016, the documentary Finding Kukan was produced, which detailed her indelible legacy and her significant role in making the film “Kukan.”

More about the Women’s Department Club collections can be found here and here.

Nicole Martinez-LeGrand is the Multicultural Collections Curator in the Library and Archives division at the Indiana Historical Society. She is an adrenaline seeker of the unique kind; she enjoys the thrill of connecting people to their past.

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