"I'll get even if I have to crawl back from the grave to do it!"

Before 1937, Bette Davis was a huge star. So big that she felt that she could buck the studio system by opting out of her contract and leaving to England. She did, but she underestimated the power of the Hollywood Studios at the time. While in England, she was taken to court by her studio, Warner Brothers. She eventually lost her trial, which caused a huge commotion both across the pond and in America. She returned home to Warner Brothers, but instead of disciplining their star, the studio decided to give Davis a desirable role in Marked Woman (1937).

The story itself is not too great. It is about a nightclub that is taken over by gangsters. They change the place a bit by trying to squeeze their patrons for as much money as they can, not that normal owners don’t try the same tactics. One of their more interesting and effective ploys to get money from customers, is by using waitresses/escorts/prostitutes, pick your choice, to tend to a very rich and very drunk male. Bette Davis and a group of girls, including Mayo Methot, play the escorts.

Since this was made during the days of the production code, there has to be some moralistic change by the main character, Mary Dwight Strauber, played by Davis. These moralistic changes come in the form of a younger sister who has grown up idolizing Mary and believes that she has been in New York this whole working toward a degree and a respectable job. She is sorely mistaken when she sees that her sister lives with a bunch of prostitutes and is one herself. This strikes a chord in Mary and she vows to make sure her little sister doesn’t end up like her. So she stands up to the mob boss and gets beaten for it. There is another character, D.A. David Graham, who says he can help Davis and her friends get away from the abusive gangsters. After fighting Graham, who is played by Humphrey Bogart, she decides to see his way of thinking and turns over a new leaf. The audience leaves happy as Davis has beaten the gangsters and the studio is happy as well to have their big star and her box office draw back.

Besides being the return of Davis to Hollywood, this movie also marked the end of Mayo Methot’s marriage and the beginning of her next one. She and Bogart had been running around together and Methot had recently gotten a divorce. Bogart’s current wife, Mary Phillips, didn’t trust Bogie as the rumors from Hollywood were heard all the way in New York. She tried to break-up the romance, but was unable to. The two were on the set together and their love turned into marriage, which would ultimately turn into what would be known as the Battling Bogarts.

Both Bogie and Methot drank a lot. Methot had a tendency to be a jealous person as well. So any time Bogie was making a movie, and Methot was not, which was frequently because Bogie was an ascending star at the time and Methot was a falling one, she would get jealous of any female lead Bogie was playing opposite. The two would fight constantly. Furniture being thrown back and forth in their house. Utensils thrown around when they were at a restaurant. It was an interesting relationship to say the least. Bogie even gave Methot the nickname of “Slugo.”

One of the most harrowing examples of the Bogart battles occurred one night when the two were having an argument in their home. Somehow Methot got a knife and cut Bogie with it. She chased him into the bathroom where Bogie had to call one of his friends. The friend promptly arrived and managed to get the knife away from Methot. Had there not been a phone in the bathroom we might not of had Bogie around to play Rick Blaine and Phillip Marlowe.