while at hollins she was briefly engaged. she dated, for some time, an unknown "good, quiet man from virginia", had a long-running affair with william gaston, and had a summer romance with preston schoyer. in the summer of 1940 brown began a long-term relationship with blanche oelrichs (nom de plume michael strange), poet/playwright, actress, and the former wife of john barrymore. the relationship, which began as a mentoring one, eventually became romantic, and included co-habitating at 10 gracie square in manhattan beginning in 1943. as a studio, they used cobble court, a wooden house later moved to charles street. oelrichs, who was 20 years brown's senior, died in 1950.