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Creator
Mack, Nila, 1891-1953
Call number
*T Mss 1953-002
Physical description
.63 linear feet (2 boxes)
Preferred Citation

Nila Mack Papers, *T-Mss 1953-002, Billy Rose Theatre Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts

Repository
Billy Rose Theatre Division
Access to materials
Request an in-person research appointment.Restrictions apply

The Nila Mack papers contain correspondence, personal papers and ephemera, photographs, clippings and scrapbooks. The clippings and scrapbooks provide a complete overview of her life and career and span the years 1910 until her death in 1953.

Biographical/historical information

Nila Mack was born in Arkansas City, Kansas on October 24, 1891. She was an only child. Her mother was a dancer and ran her own dancing school. Her father was an engineer who died tragically in a train wreck. Upon her father's death, she attended Ferry Hall in Lake Forest, Illinois. After graduating, she went to Boston and took courses in French, dance, and voice training. She was also a pianist and played in her mother's dancing school.

Nila Mack's early career began in vaudeville and as a leading lady in a traveling repertory company. She married her leading man, Roy Briant. When Briant joined Paramount Pictures as a writer, Mack became a member of Nazimova's company. She was in the film titled War Brides and also wrote scenarios for screen shorts. She also acted on Broadway and appeared in the plays Fair and Warmer and A Doll's House. Her husband, Roy Briant, died in 1927 after 13 years of marriage. She was also an actress in the radio program CBS Radio Guild of the Air.

Nila Mack, returned to Kansas to nurse her ill mother and at that time became the program director of a local station. This was the beginning of her career in radio programming. In 1930, CBS asked her to return and take over the children's program The Adventures of Helen and Mary later renamed Let's Pretend which she produced for the next 23 years. The show featured dramatizations of classic fairy tales. It was one of the most successful children's shows in radio broadcasting history. Nila Mack received fan mail from youngsters and mothers, some of which was read during the show. From her shows she discovered young talents who became performers, producers, directors, and writers. Nila Mack also produced other radio programs such as Let Freedom Ring, Treasures Next Door, Sunday Morning at Aunt Susan's, Funny Things, and March of Games. Nila also wrote children's stories for magazines and wrote the book Animal Allies and a storybook of Let's Pretend.

Nila Mack died of a heart ailment in her New York apartment on January 20, 1953. She won numerous awards for Let's Pretend as well as individual awards for her accomplishments. During her 23 years in radio she was known as "Fairy Godmother of Radio".

Scope and arrangement

The Nila Mack Papers consist of correspondence, personal papers, photographs, clippings, and scrapbooks. The clippings and the scrapbook provide a complete overview of her life and career and span 1910 to her death.

The Nila Mack papers are arranged in five series:

  • Series I: Correspondence
    1915-1953
    12 folders

    This series contains correspondence from family, relatives, friends, and colleagues. It documents her career in radio broadcasting and her personal relations with family and friends.

  • Series II: Personal Papers
    1914-1953
    9 folders

    This series contains press releases, programs, calling cards signed by various friends and colleagues, and poetry. It also includes a tribute by Howard Lindsay on the occasion of Nila Mack's death, radio scripts for the National Advisory Council on Radio in Education and The Adventures of Helen and Mary, lists of scripts for radio programming, and a handwritten play entitled Western Farmer and Hero Tramp dated 1914.

  • Series III: Photographs
    1916-1948
    2 folders

    This series contains miscellaneous photographs of Nila Mack, her husband Roy Briant, relatives, friends, and colleagues. Also included are photographic stills of the motion picture War Brides.

  • Series IV: Scrapbooks
    1932-1948
    2 scrapbooks

    This series contains two scrapbooks that document the career of Nila Mack between 1932-1948. The scrapbooks were photocopied for conservation purposes.

  • Series V: Clippings
    1910-1953
    6 folders

    This series contains clippings about the life and career of Nila Mack. The clippings were photocopied for conservation purposes.

Administrative information

Custodial history

The Nila Mack Papers were donated by Elaine Ivans in 1953.

Source of acquisition

Gift, Elaine Ivans, 1953

Processing information

Processed by Ramon Cabrera.

In 1995, the collection was recatalogued and reorganized and all clippings were photocopied for preservation purposes.

Separated material

  • Aley, Albert (3)
  • Anderson, Arthur (2), 1 autographed
  • Backus, Georgia (1)
  • Block, Vivian (1)
  • Blume, Ethel (2), 1 autographed
  • Colton, Kingsley (2)
  • Erskine, Marilyn (1)
  • Grimes, Jackie (1)
  • Homier, Skip (1)
  • Jordan, Jack (1) autographed
  • Kelk, Jackie (2)
  • Let's Pretend (9)
  • Levy, Estelle (5), 3 autographed
  • McCallion, Jimmy (2) autographed
  • Mack, Nila (14)
  • Mauch, Bobby (2) autographed
  • O'Day, Michael (1)
  • Stickney, Dorothy (1)
  • Stone, Tony (1)
  • Tetley, Walter (3), 1 autographed
  • Tyler, Betty Jane (1)
  • Wick, Ted (1) autographed
  • Wolfe, Miriam (3), 1 autographed

Using the collection

Location

Billy Rose Theatre Division
New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center
40 Lincoln Center Plaza, New York, NY 10023-7498
Third Floor

Conditions Governing Use

For permission to publish, contact the Curator, Billy Rose Theatre Division.

Access restrictions

Photocopying prohibited.