The Italian Barber (1911)

Tony, the barber, on his way to the shop meets little Alice, the newsgirl, who runs a stand on a neighboring corner. He at once becomes smitten and can think of nothing else. Later they are betrothed and little Alice fancies she has made a good catch. However, clouds gather when Alice's sister Florence, who is a vaudeville artist, returns from her road tour with her sketch partner Bobby Mack, for the moment Tony sees Florence he transfers his affections to her. Poor Alice becomes aware of the waning of Tony's love for her and the heavy blow falls when on the night of the Barbers' Ball Tony escorts Florence thither. Alice being excessively romantic reasons that life without Tony is impossible so she is about to emulate the heroine of a novel she has been reading by terminating her unendurable existence with a pistol when Mack enters. The bullet she intended for her own lovelorn head passes through Mack's hat, scaring him stiff.