their two-week contract ended up extending to two years. The band continued to play in films during this time. They appeared in Melody for Two (1937), The Great Waltz (1938), Rhythm of the Saddle (1938) and Reckless Living (1938). In 1939, Gilbert and her band continued to be featured in many clubs and events, including the New Hollywood Café and the 15th Annual Policemen's Ball in Phoenix, Arizona. In 1939 and 1940, the band was broadcast on KMPC as "The Early Girls and Three Chirps." The group did the regular morning and afternoon programs, as well as additional programs that were requested by commercial sponsors. They still played late nights at clubs and worked sidelined in films. Gilbert then returned home in order to live a "normal life," but, quickly realizing that she couldn't stay in Sioux City, returned to Los Angeles. Gilbert's article in Down Beat In 1938, Gilbert wrote an article for Down Beat magazine in response to an anonymous article titled "Why Women Musicians Are Inferior." The article criticized men who discourage women musicians. She said that women musicians faced a double standard: they had to look beautiful while playing their instruments. It was nearly impossible for an all-female band to survive "on musicianship rather than looks." While men were hired for musical talent, women were, for the most part, hired strictly for looks. Gilbert experienced this discrimination throughout her career, as "she encountered incredulity, outright rejection and auditions at which band members were asked to lift their skirts to prove they had good legs." Gilbert asked, "How can you smile with a horn in your mouth?" She received support from other women musicians all over the country. The article gave her national prominence as an advocate for women instrumentalists and throughout the rest of her life, she continued to be a strong "one-woman support network and staunch advocate for women." Early 1940s and World War II By the late 1930s, there was very high demand for all-female bands. This rise of women's bands that correlated with the United States' involvement in World War II did not mean that women musicians were solely filling the men's shoes for a few years. Although "All-woman bands had been abundant in the '20s and '30s, yet musicians who played in the groups of the '40s were regarded as temporary war-time phenomena: Rosie the Riveter with a trumpet." Despite the growing