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The original idea of the act was prob- ably some such effect as is secured in the New York Hippodrome water scene, where the nymphs rise directly from the water, but the germ has been so cumbered and clouded by a surplusage of incidentals that ever were the mechanical arrangements carried out properly, it would lose much of its force. Indeed, the water nymph in “The Mystic Pool” does not seem to arise from the water, but rather appears to come into the tank from the side under cover of an arrangement of foliage.
The sketch opens with a little love scene between Katherine Bartlett and Jay Harris at the brink of the pool, during which the tragic legend of a pair of ancient Indian lovers is recited. The man falls asleep aid the spirit of the pool (June James) arises from the water to tell him in blank verse that his sweetheart is false. In rage he throws the girl into the water and fellows her to his death. All this transpires on a darkened stage, and the pair who plunge into the pool are doubles of the real principals. In this way the deception passes undiscovered. When the stage is lighted again the man is discovered in the same sleeping position and the sketch closes with his realization that "it was all a dream."
The sketch makes an interesting number opening the Fifty-eighth Street bill this week, but into the consideration of its value must be figured the necessity of digging up the stage where it is presented to place the water tank, which is probably five feet deep. The most interesting part of the hole proceeding was a song by Miss Bartlett. She is an extraordinarily pretty girl, and a voice of uncommon value. The sketch is novel in conception, but its future is problematical.
Source:
Variety 9:1 (09/07/1907)