The Face Upon the Bar Room Floor
J. Morgyn White
Rummaging through a package of ephemera always turns up a rabbit hole of interesting things. A particular package had both a poem and a photo of the woman on the bar room floor. Having no context, of course I went on the hunt.
Apparently the poem was written in 1887 by H. Antoine D’Arcy who tells a story of a drunk man who, wanting to prove that they’d once been a famous artist, painted his ex girlfriend on the bar’s floor and then fell on top of it and died.
The real story behind the poem was it was based on the real life meeting by a writer of a drunk he met in New York City.
The face on the bar room floor which now exists in Central City, Colorado at Teller House, was actually painted as a prank in 1936. It was painted by locals who knew about the original poem. It’s apparently now one of the most popular attractions in Central City.
