[4] She studied music in France with Jacques Isnardon at the Paris Conservatory,[5] and toured in Europe with singer Yvette Guilbert as a young woman.

[6] "If I ever do anything really fine," Brooks said of Guilbert in 1919, "I feel that I shall owe it to her, to the privilege of daily association with so marvelous an artist, to all that I have learned through my intimate friendship with her.

[15] With her husband, Frank Vernon, she co-wrote the English versions of French and Russian plays, including Simon Gantillon's Maya (1928),[16] René Berton's After Death (1928),[17] Vladimir Kirshon's Red Rust (1930),[18] Alfred Savoir's Little Catherine (1931), The Poet's Secret (1933), Henry Bordeaux's Shattered (1935),[19][20] Quet's (1935),[21] and Sacha Guitry's Villa for Sale (1963).

[24][25] The Vernons co-wrote The Diary of a Murderer (1934, based on Tristan Bernard's Aux Abois), and co-edited Modern One-Act Plays from the French (1935).

During the war she was involved in organizing entertainment for the troops as Chief Welfare Officer with ENSA,[31][32] and traveled extensively, from India, China, and Thailand to Iceland, Tunisia, and Egypt.