The Face on the Barroom Floor

This burlesque of Hugh Antoine Darcy's sentimental poem sees Charlie as an artist in a bar, recounting his tragic past in return for a drink. In flashback he is seen drawing the lovely Madeleine and then the man who she ultimately runs off with, leaving Charlie distraught. The pictures Charlie draws are in ironic opposition to the intertitles, which are taken from the poem. So the "fair haired boy" becomes a balding middle-aged man. Back in the bar Charlie is asked to draw the lovely face of Madeleine but can only manage an amateurish outline. He is booted out and chalks a drawing, and eventually falls across it 'dead, drunk'. (official distributor synopsis)