Groody began her career while still a teenager in 1915 as cabaret dancer in New York,[6] and that same year began her career on Broadway working as a chorus girl.[1] She drew the attention of Broadway producer Charles Dillingham who cast her in the supporting role of Gladiola in the 1915 C. M. S. McLellan musical revue Around the Map.[6] In this show she sang Louis Hirsch's coon song "There's One Thing That a Coon Can Do".[1][6]

Groody would go on to appear in nine more Broadway productions, mostly musical comedies, of which four would prove to be major hits with runs of well over 300 performances. In 1920 the diminutive five-foot brunette[7] played Barbara, a principal role in The Night Boat, at the Liberty Theatre, and the following year she played Rose-Marie in Good Morning Dearie at the Globe Theatre. She played the title role Nanette in the 1925 hit No, No, Nanette, also staged at the Globe and in 1927, her favorite role, Loulou in Hit the Deck, at the Belasco Theatre. Audiences of the day most likely best remembered Louise Groody for the popular song "Tea for Two", from No, No, Nanette.