The 1905 New York Census has her living in a Manhattan rooming house with her mother, also named Vera Maxwell, who is listed as a widow working as a milliner.

She also seemed to have great fun, as she reportedly "danced the Fandango Rag" for the Follies company on a dining table during a 1910 New Year's Eve party.

By that point, she was famous for her theatrical talent; London papers described her as "a dancer and singer of considerable repute in New York.

"[5] After reportedly "taking London by storm," Maxwell made a short film in England titled Always Gay where she danced "The Evening News Waltz" with Jack Jarrett.

[12] The Ziegfeld organization announced that Maxwell was engaged to businessman George H. Taylor in December 1912,[13] but the marriage never took place.