Wezlynn Tildon
{{short description|American journalist}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Wezlynn Tildon
| image = WezlynnTildon1934.png
| alt = Wezlynn Tildon, from a 1934 newspaper photo; a smiling Black teenaged girl, wearing a dress with a large white bow on the front
| caption = Wezlynn Tildon, from a 1934 newspaper
| birth_name =
| birth_date = September 19, 1918
| birth_place = Fort Worth, Texas, U.S.
| death_date = August 15, 1993 (aged 74)
| death_place = Texas
| other_names = Wezlynn Tilden, Wezlyn Tilden, Weslene Tildon
| occupation = Actress, columnist
| years_active =
| known_for =
| notable_works =
| spouse(s) =
| relatives =
}}
Wezlynn Margaret Develle Tildon (September 19, 1918 – August 15, 1993), sometimes billed as Wezlyn Tilden, was an American newspaper columnist and radio actress.
Early life and education
Tildon was born in Fort Worth, Texas, the daughter of J. Wesley Tildon Jr. and Bertine Washington Tildon. Her father was a physician.Foster, Laurence, ed. [https://www.lincoln.edu/_files/langston-hughes-memorial-library/Library%20Alumni%20Directories/1946.pdf The Alumni Directory of Lincoln University] (1946): 113. Her uncle was Toussaint T. Tildon, director of the Veterans Hospital at Tuskegee.{{Cite news |date=1947-08-16 |title=Wezlynn Tildon's father succumbs |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/los-angeles-tribune-wezlynn-tildons-fat/141008308/ |access-date=2024-02-15 |work=Los Angeles Tribune |pages=12 |via=Newspapers.com}}
Tildon was raised mostly in Chicago,{{Cite news |date=1934-12-15 |title=Mother and Deb |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/new-pittsburgh-courier/72864206/ |access-date=2024-02-16 |work=New Pittsburgh Courier |pages=8 |via=Newspapers.com}} but was a debutante in Harlem in 1939,{{Cite magazine |date=1939-07-03 |title=People |url=https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,761595,00.html |access-date=2024-02-15 |magazine=Time |language=en-US |issn=0040-781X}}{{Cite news |date=1934-12-15 |title=Mother and Deb |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/new-pittsburgh-courier/72864206/ |access-date=2024-02-16 |work=New Pittsburgh Courier |pages=8 |via=Newspapers.com}} and was billed as "Harlem's Glamour Girl" in newspapers.{{Cite news |date=1939-06-23 |title=Harlem's Glamour Girl |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/omaha-world-herald-harlems-glamour-girl/141033105/ |access-date=2024-02-15 |work=Omaha World-Herald |pages=25 |via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite news |date=1939-06-23 |title=Harlem's Glamour Girl No. 1 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-harlems-glamour-girl-no-1/141044333/ |access-date=2024-02-15 |work=Daily News |pages=236 |via=Newspapers.com}} She graduated from Wadleigh High School for Girls in 1936, in the same class as composer Arlein Ford Straw.{{Cite news |date=1936-07-04 |title=Graduated |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-new-york-age-graduated/141009531/ |access-date=2024-02-15 |work=The New York Age |pages=4 |via=Newspapers.com}} She graduated from New York University in 1942; at NYU, she was president of the Dramatic Art Club, and the only Black drama student in her year.{{Cite journal |date=June 1942 |title=Two Young Women Seniors Receive Honors from New York University |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3aEqAAAAMAAJ&dq=Wezlynn+Tildon&pg=PA185 |journal=Opportunity |volume=20 |issue=6 |pages=185}} She was a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha.{{Cite news |date=1942-05-23 |title=Wezlynn Tildon Voted No. 1 Girl of New York University's Senior Class; Nita Edwards Wins Award |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-new-york-age-wezlynn-tildon-voted-no/140980508/ |access-date=2024-02-15 |work=The New York Age |via=Newspapers.com |pages=4}} She also attended the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).
Career
Tildon was junior society columnist for The New York Age newspaper,{{Cite news |date=1937-07-31 |title=Wezlynn Tildon Says |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-new-york-age-wezlynn-tildon-says/141007999/ |access-date=2024-02-15 |work=The New York Age |pages=4 |via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite news |date=1940-06-15 |title=Wezlynn Tildon Says |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-new-york-age/72820697/ |access-date=2024-02-15 |work=The New York Age |pages=6 |via=Newspapers.com}} and worked for the Treasury Department as a young woman. In Chicago, she was a stage actress,{{Cite news |date=1954-01-23 |title='Story of Ruby Valentine' starring Juanita Hall, Premieres on National Negro Network Jan. 25th |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/jackson-advocate-story-of-ruby-valentin/141044673/ |access-date=2024-02-16 |work=Jackson Advocate |pages=4 |via=Newspapers.com}} and a member of the W. E. B. Du Bois Theater Guild{{Cite book |last=Tracy |first=Steven C. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZqtEIBxAhMsC&dq=Wezlynn+Tildon&pg=PA189 |title=Writers of the Black Chicago Renaissance |date=2011-11-01 |publisher=University of Illinois Press |isbn=978-0-252-09342-5 |pages=189 |language=en}} and Skyloft Players.{{Cite news |date=1947-06-08 |title=Hail Langston Hughes' Poems at Fete Today |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/chicago-tribune-hail-langston-hughes-po/141032621/ |access-date=2024-02-15 |work=Chicago Tribune |pages=3 |via=Newspapers.com}} She was in the cast of Here Comes Tomorrow (1947–1948),{{Cite magazine |date=November 20, 1948 |title=Reviews of Winning Programs |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Fh4EAAAAMBAJ&dq=Wezlynn+Tildon&pg=PA6 |magazine=Billboard |pages=6}} the first all-Black radio soap opera to be broadcast in America.[https://books.google.com/books?id=HUUEAAAAMBAJ&dq=Wezlynn+Tildon&pg=PA5 "Marshall Field Outlet Starts Air's First All-Negro Serial"] Billboard (March 15, 1947): 5. She starred in several episodes of the radio drama anthology series Destination Freedom from 1948 to 1950,{{Cite book |last1=Durham |first1=Richard |url=http://archive.org/details/richarddurhamsde00durh |title=Richard Durham's Destination freedom : scripts from radio's Black legacy, 1948-50 |last2=Macdonald |first2=J. Fred |date=1989 |publisher=New York : Praeger |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-275-93138-4 |pages=2 |via=Internet Archive}}{{Cite book |last1=Dunning |first1=John |url=http://archive.org/details/onairencyclop00dunn |title=On the air : the encyclopedia of old-time radio |last2=Dunning |first2=John |date=1998 |publisher=New York : Oxford University Press |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-19-507678-3 |pages=196–197}} playing historical figures such as Harriet Tubman, contralto Marian Anderson, poet Gwendolyn Brooks, and dancer Katherine Dunham.{{Cite journal |last=MacDonald |first=J. Fred |date=1978 |title=Radio's Black Heritage: Destination Freedom, 1948-1950 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/274433 |journal=Phylon |volume=39 |issue=1 |pages=66–73 |doi=10.2307/274433 |jstor=274433 |issn=0031-8906}} She was also in the regular cast of the first program broadcast over the National Negro Network, The Story of Ruby Valentine (1954), a daily soap opera.Ellett, Ryan. Encyclopedia of Black Radio in the United States, 1921–1955 (McFarland & Company 2012): 48, 146-147, 152-153.
Tildon wrote several songs, radio scripts, and stage plays, including The Cup (1948).{{Cite book |last=Library of Congress Copyright Office |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cE0hAQAAIAAJ&dq=Wezlynn+Tildon&pg=RA2-PA111 |title=Catalog of Copyright Entries: Third series |date=1948 |page=111 |language=en}} She also taught acting classes at the New Era Professional College in Chicago.{{Cite news |date=1949-06-11 |title=New Era Professional College (advertisement) |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/chicago-world/72818645/ |access-date=2024-02-15 |work=Chicago World |pages=9 |via=Newspapers.com}} In 1954, she was "fan mail secretary" at the Today show.{{Cite journal |date=May 1954 |title=TV Fan Mail Secretary |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_ebony_1954-05_9_7/page/n3/mode/2up?q=Wezlyn+Tildon |journal=Ebony |volume=9 |issue=7 |pages=5 |via=Internet Archive}}
Personal life
Tildon died in 1993, at the age of 74, in Texas.
References
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Category:People from Fort Worth, Texas