Maryland Morne

Morne was born Mae Jones around the year 1900^[2][7][8] in Baltimore,^[1] though she was marketed as having been born in England.^[9] Her paternal ancestry was French,^[10] and contemporary media claimed that she was also a relative of Stonewall Jackson through her maternal line.^[5][7] Her father was a successful lumber merchant in New York City.^[7]

Morne attended a convent school in Chicago.^[9] Her first acting role was in a stage production of Alice in Wonderland at the age of seven.^[9] In 1917, Morne volunteered with the Red Cross, fundraising to purchase tobacco for American troops serving in Europe during the First World War.^[11]

Morne began her career as a professional model.^[12][13] Her first known screen role was as Ann Montgomery in The Boomerang (1919), directed by Bertram Bracken.^[3][14] The next year, she was cast by Allan Dwan in his now-lost movie, In the Heart of a Fool.^[15][16]

In 1921, Morne appeared as Ariel in a stage production of The Tempest at the Hollywood Bowl,^[17][18] having studied under Gwendolyn Logan.^[19] Her casting as Jane McKaye in Kindred of the Dust the next year, playing the sister of Ralph Graves, marked her third appearance on screen.^[8][20][21] Directed by Raoul Walsh, the film was based upon a novel of the same name by Peter B. Kyne.^[22] The film's production, which also starred Walsh's wife Miriam Cooper, was complicated for its cast and crew by the clear breakdown of Walsh and Cooper's relationship during filming.^[20]

Morne appeared in an early 1923 run of the John L. Hobble play, Daddies, starring Vincent Coleman.^[23] Later that year, she played at the Ritz Theatre alongside Robert Strange in a production of In Love With Love.^[24] The production, which also featured Lynn Fontanne, Henry Hull, and Berton Churchill,^[25] was deemed one of the best plays of the 1923–24 season by Burns Mantle.^[26]

In 1930, Morne was cast in the mystery film The Last of the Lone Wolf, starring Bert Lytell and Patsy Ruth Miller.^[27][28] She played the Queen of Saxonia opposite on-screen partner Alfred Hickman.^[27]

In 1921, the United States Mint invited artists to submit designs for the peace dollar, a coin intended to celebrate the ending of the First World War.^[29] The winner, Anthony de Francisci, submitted a design featuring the Goddess of Liberty in profile.^[6] Though his primary model was his wife, Teresa de Francisci, he described the face as a "composite [that] typified something of America,"^[6][30] leading to speculation that another influence for the coin had been Maryland Morne.^[1][5][31] The media referred to Morne by variations of the moniker "peace dollar girl," such as "million dollar girl."^{[13][32][33][34][35]}

Morne enjoyed writing.^[16][36] Over the course of filming In the Heart of a Fool, she met William Allen White, the writer whose novel formed the basis of director Dwan's screenplay.^[16] He shared an idea for a novel with Morne, and gave her his blessing to write the work on his behalf.^[16] Morne also wrote poetry in her spare time.^[36]