“Broadway prepared me for radio,” said Mack, who was cast in CBS’ experimental
Radio Guild of the Air, the series that evolved into the
Columbia Workshop, and a CBS comedy show,
Nit Wits. She scripted and narrated the
Night Club Romances series. In 1930, Mack returned to Arkansas City to care for her ailing mother and began working at the local radio station. However, after six months, she was contacted by CBS to take over its children’s program,
The Adventures of Helen and Mary. Mack moved back to New York and began to retool the struggling program. Cast member Gwen Davies recalled that initially Mack “was terrified about working with children, because she never had any.” Eventually, she changed the content and casting, assembling a company of child actors, and retitling the series as ''Let's Pretend
. The focus was on fantasy. She recalled, “We were deep in the depression when Let’s Pretend'' began… I remembered fairy stories that filled me with wonder when I was very young. I figured that if these lively pieces with a message at their hearts had meant so much to me, other children would like them, too.” In addition to original scripts, the series broadcast more than 300 fairy tale adaptations. Cream of Wheat signed on as the program's sponsor. Cast member
Arthur Anderson wrote that she realized: :...how much better would be a cast of child actors, who could convey much more than grownups the openness, innocence, and simplicity she wanted for the show... Besides Nila Mack’s scripts, her genius for choosing and working with her juvenile cast was the main reason the show survived longer than any other dramatic program on American radio. Nila Mack was... a lone woman in a man’s world. ==Awards==