Adelaide Hall - Blackbirds of 1928

In 1928, Adelaide starred on Broadway with Bill "Bojangles" Robinson in Blackbirds of 1928. The show became the most successful all-black show ever staged on Broadway at that time and made Adelaide 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 show Blackbirds in London in 1926, but she died of pneumonia in 1927 before rehearsals started. Adelaide was chosen to replace her. The revue originally opened at Les Ambassadeurs Club in New York in January, 1928, under the title Blackbird Revue, but in May 1928 it transferred to Broadway's Liberty Theatre and was re-titled Blackbirds of 1928, where it ran for 518 performances. After a slow start, the show became the hit of the season. It was this revue that secured Adelaide's success, both in the U.S.A. and in Europe when the production was taken to Paris, France, in 1929, where it ran for three months at the Moulin Rouge. With music by Jimmy McHugh and lyrics by Dorothy Fields, Adelaide's performances in it included the hit songs "I Can't Give You Anything but Love, Baby", "Diga Diga Do", and "I Must Have That Man", which continued to be audience favourites throughout her career.