Nila Mac

Nila Mack (October 24, 1891, in Arkansas City, Kansas – January 20, 1953, in New York, New York) was the creator and director of Let's Pretend, the long-running CBS radio series for children. She served as the Director of Children's Programs for CBS from 1930 to 1953.

Born as Nila Mac, she was an only child. She added a "k" to her name because she felt "Mac" looked like a nickname. However, some sources, including her obituary in The New York Times, stated her birth name as Nila MacLoughlin. Her mother, Margaret, was a dance instructor, and her father, Don Carlos, was a railroad engineer who died in a train accident when Nila was very young. After his death, she attended an Illinois finishing school, Ferry Hall in Lake Forest, and later took classes in both Arkansas City and Boston, financing her education by playing the piano at her mother’s dance studio.