Her final year of secondary education was at Dorking High School, after which she enrolled at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in 1925.

[1] While still a 16-year-old student at RADA, in 1926 Brown appeared at the Savoy Theatre in The Unfair Sex, having taken over a principal role at short notice following the illness of Rosalie Courtneidge.

[1] A "reliable understudy", Brown learned leading roles in Rose Marie, The Desert Song, Show Boat and Bitter Sweet, but did not have many opportunities to appear on stage.

She was thrilled to star for 18 months with Richard Tauber in his 1943 operetta, Old Chelsea, in England, noting his generosity to fellow cast members.

[7] In 1961, she, her husband, Albert Arlen, and Lloyd Thomson produced a week-long season of their musical version of The Sentimental Bloke.