George Hall's band got its first taste of success in the 1920s, at the Arcadia Ballroom in New York City as George Hall And His Arcadians. They made their first records in 1926 for the Pathe Actuelle label. But their biggest fame came in 1933, when they were signed to perform in the Grill Room of the Hotel Taft in New York City. They eventually played there for eight consecutive seasons. With the billing changed to George Hall And The Hotel Taft Orchestra, they began recording for Bluebird that year, making some 170 sides for them during the next four years.

They appeared in two film shorts, George Hall and His Orchestra, directed in 1936 by Roy Mack for the Vitaphone Corporation, and Hall's Holiday, directed in 1938 by Leslie M. Roush for Paramount's Headliner series. In 1941, George Hall officially turned the band over to her, and became her manager; the band was renamed Dolly Dawn And Her Dawn Patrol.