She was born in or near Ungvár, Kárpátalja, Hungary, which is now Uzhhorod, Zakarpattia oblast, Ukraine, into an assimilated Jewish family.

Under the name Marie Weiserova, her 1921 New York immigration manifest lists her previous address as "Ushorod, Czecho-Sl."

or Uzhhorod, which was then in Czechoslovakia, but it also lists her place of birth as "Iadobover" [sic], and the modern name of this town is unclear.

[3] She married Leslie Balogh Bain in 1926, an author, war correspondent and film director, and had two children with him.

Bain was awarded the Woman International Master title in 1952 and represented her country at the 1963 Chess Olympiad, held in Split.