Dolly Tree arrived in New York on board the Leviathan in the Autumn of 1926 on an exploratory trip to investigate the likelihood of obtaining work. "Go to America, that's where the money is." Major E.O. Leadlay, the manager at the Piccadilly Hotel in London told her. She had regularly met, socialised and worked with a host of American performers. who must have also urged her to at least visit New York and see if she could utilise her talents on Broadway. Shortly after her arrival, Billboard announced "Dolly Tree well known as a freelance designer abroad and who has made sketches for many of the big musical shows in London and Paris is paying her first visit to New York and is considering several offers if she decides to remain in this country."

Dolly Tree quickly learned that the costume designing scene in New York was not an easy one for an outsider to infiltrate being monopolised by such names as Charles LeMaire, Mabel Johnson, Kiviette, Ernest Schrapps, William Henry Mathews, John Harkrider and James Reynolds. Yet despite the dominance of these designers and a worsening economic situation she swiftly obtained some interesting contracts and then manoeuvred herself into a secure position of relative prominence and success by working with Charles LeMaire, at Brooks the most prestigious costume house on the East Coast. From New York she continued to design costumes for shows in London and Paris and was commissioned to design the costumes for several big Broadway successes staged in Australia. She also returned to commercial illustration which included book illustration such as the quirky Clove and Lettuce (1928).

Even before her arrival in New York her designs had already been seen on Broadway through the extended network of Max Weldy in Paris. Starting in 1922 Weldy created costumes for numerous Shubert shows including several editions of Artists and Models, Gay Paree and The Passing Show and also supplied costumes to Ziegfeld, Earl Carroll and George White. Although she is given no credit in any of the programmes it looks as if her designs for a range of exotic birds from the Follies Bergere in 1922 were used in the 1923 edition of The Passing Show and a glorious lace scene which had appeared in the Folies Bergere in 1922 and then Leap Year at the London Hippodrome (1924) also surfaced in the Shubert revue Artists and Models (1924) and Gay Paree (1925). Perhaps her costumes for satyrs, nymphs and sprites from Les Nuits de Bois at the Follies Bergere (1923) may have been reproduced in the legend of the woodland scene in Topics of 1923.

Despite the fact that Dolly Tree worked for the most prestigious costume house in New York she received few printed confirmations of credit although there are numerous tantalising indications that she worked on a vast array of projects for which for some unknown reason she was denied credit. One of her most noticeable credits was the overly ambitious International Revue (1930) staged by the originator of the Negro revue, Lew Leslie, which despite an excellent cast including Harry Richman, Gertrude Lawrence and a host of other European stars sadly failed to capture the attention of New York's theatregoers.

By far the most interesting productions that Dolly Tree worked on in New York from a historical perspective were the two Mae West shows staged in 1928, Diamond Lil and The Pleasure Man. A shrewd and opportunistic performer Mae West settled on the nostalgic allure of the "gay 90's" look made famous in the stage show Diamond Lil as her enduring persona. The carefully designed gowns by Dolly Tree, based on fashion ideas derived from the 1890's cleverly balanced Mae West's naturally sleazy style with a glamorous and nostalgic image making her more palatable to a middle class audience. The gowns which featured the hour glass waist, revealing decolletage, frills and flounces, feather boas and corsets have become firmly entrenched in our mind as part of the icon that has become Mae West. Dolly Tree should be given the full credit for creating this image which was later immortalised on the screen by Paramount. Mae West's The Pleasure Man featured a range of exotic gowns designed by Dolly Tree for the cast which included several female impersonators. The play itself illustrated West's continued preoccupation with New York's gay subculture and generated as much controversy as her earlier production The Drag.

One of the consistent credits that Dolly Tree is known to have enjoyed in New York was creating the costumes for many of the weekly stage presentation shows or units as they were called, that played on the Publix/Loew theatre circuits . These presentations changed on a weekly basis and were usually under an hour in length with one or two star attractions or performers, a dance troupe, and one or two spectacular scenes especially the finale involving the entire company. They were usually themed, featuring such ideas as jewels, pirates, cats, Spain, clocks, romans, native American Indians, venetians, circus, gypsy, Russia, jungle, Baghdad, Chinese with costumes and sets to match. The shows were launched in the New York flagships of the Paramount and Capitol Theatres and then followed a fifty-two week tour around the country.

Given Dolly Tree's success at designing costumes for top cabaret nightspots in London, she must have done similar work in New York, although only one example can be confirmed. It would appear that she designed the costumes for the various shows at Club Rendezvous launched in the winter of 1928 though 1929 starring the trio of Jimmy Durante, Lou Clayton and Eddie Jackson. Despite the cabaret scene taking a turn for the worse in the late 20's this became New York's unrivalled number one night spot - an enduring and popular attraction full of clowning around, crazy antics, wisecracks, gags and comic songs, not to mention fabulous frocks from Dolly!

But alas, the twenties were up. The Wall Street crash in late 1929 and a shrinkage of new stage shows meant little work. Hollywood beckoned as the next best thing.