In 1933, Gilbert joined Boots and Her Buddies. She traveled with them for about three months, then returned to Los Angeles, where the rest of the women from the band joined her a few months later. With their arrival in May 1933, Gilbert saw the opportunity to form her own big band. The band played in Las Vegas and at all of the major theater chains in the area: Warner Bros. Theaters, Pantages Theaters, and West Coast Theaters. In October 1933, Gilbert took her band to Hawaii with E.K. Fernandez, the man who began the entertainment business in Hawaii in 1903.