incident to a reporter he explained, "We had to do something to employ Adelaide Hall," and then added, "I always say we are primitive artists, we only employ the materials at hand ... the band is an accumulation of personalities, tonal devices." On 4 December 1927, Ellington and his Orchestra commenced their residency at Harlem's Cotton Club in a revue called Rhythmania. The show featured Hall singing "Creole Love Call". In 1928, "Creole Love Call" entered the Billboard song charts at No. 29 (USA). On 7 January 1933, Hall and Duke Ellington and his Famous Orchestra recorded "I Must Have That Man" and "Baby". Blackbirds of 1928 In 1928, Hall starred on Broadway with Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, Tim Moore and Aida Ward in Blackbirds of 1928. The show became the most successful all-black show ever staged on Broadway at that time and made Hall and Bojangles into household names. Blackbirds of 1928 was the idea of impresario Lew Leslie, who planned to build the show around Florence Mills in New York after her success in the hit London show Blackbirds but Mills died of pneumonia in 1927 before rehearsals commenced. Hall was chosen to replace her. The revue opened at Les Ambassadeurs Club in New York in January 1928, under the name Blackbird Revue, but it was renamed Blackbirds of 1928 and in May 1928 transferred to Broadway's Liberty Theatre, where it ran for 518 performances. After a slow start, the show became the hit of the season. Hall's performance of "Diga Diga Do", created a sensation. Her mother was so incensed when she went to see the show by her daughter performing what she termed 'risqué dance moves', she tried to stop the show during Hall's performance and banned her from appearing in any future performances. The ban only remained for one performance, and Hall returned triumphantly to her role the following day. It was reported in the press of the day that the show's producer Lew Leslie was so concerned about race violence connected with the controversy surrounding Hall's performance that he took out a hefty insurance policy to cover the cast; the most heavily insured were the principals, Hall and "Bojangles" Robinson. It was this musical that not only secured Hall's success in the USA but also in Europe when the production was taken in 1929 to Paris, France, where it ran for four months at the