Try to imagine Alexis Carrington at 16. That would be Sydney.
Sarah Michelle Gellar described the character thusly in an interview with TEEN PARTY magazine: "Sydney is kind of like the town witch. She doesn't really care about anyone else's feelings and she feels that everything revolves around her, and it usually does."
The full name is Sydney Orion Rutledge. The middle name is not shown in the credits and is only mentioned once in the show. The pronunciation given to it (by Nancy) suggests it might be spelled Orien or Orienne. The IMDB, however, is going with Orion and so am I. She was born 13 March 1978 around 11:45 pm at Swans Crossing General Hospital during the Great Flood. See Sydney's Horoscope. Sandy Swan was born at approximately the same time and place. The daughter of Mayor Margaret Rutledge and granddaughter of the late Cyrus Rutledge, Sydney has the same initials as her grandmother (S.O.R.). There is no reference in the series to Sydney's father, a fact which lends itself to speculation as to what could make an entire community refuse to mention him or his side of the family at all.
Sydney tried
to never wear an outfit more than once, only bit her nails when she was really stressed, read books about
horses (she was an accomplished equestrian), was always in the mood for shopping, and had her own phone
line and answering machine message (pre-cell era). Her horse's name was Sugar, and the riding collar had
her initials on it. Sydney got her first horse before Nancy and got the name for the horse that Nancy
wanted (which was Sugar).
She loved a challenge, couldn't think when nervous, and always liked finer foods, lemons, and Garrett.
The following observations were made during the course of the show, possibly to cause the audience to perhaps give some credence to the notion that Sydney and Sandy might have been switched at birth:
The signal Garrett used to tell Sydney he wanted to meet her in No Man's Land was to hang a shade with a picture of Fabian on it in Glory's window.
Garret always gave Sydney a red rose. He gave her one before he left for France
Sydney was
insecure, and felt that no one ever helped her and everyone she cared about left her. She was afraid of the
rumors, suspicions, and even just what the gossip would do if Garrett revealed that she "was Sandy"
Her favorite color was red
Her mother (the Mayor) named her Chairperson of the Rock Concert Stage Commitee
When Nancy got a horse without telling her parents, Sydney helped her hide it in her room (evidently a very large room) and the plan worked until Nancy jumped over her bed with it. Nancy got to keep the horse. (This is discussed but not shown.)
She had three dream sequences, all rather nightmarish. These dreams occur in episodes 28, 53, and 55. The first involved a wizard who transformed her into Sandy Swan; the second an antique slot machine (in the background were coloured lights and giant dice); and in the third, several of her friends mock her while being served canapes by Ralph.
After the third dream sequence, at 5 am, she went to the dock and dropped her grandmother's locket into the water. After diving in to retrieve it, she got her hand stuck under a rock trying to retrieve it and Callie had to save her.
"All men love surprises."
"Watch out for the boys that always smile at you"
"Sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride."
About that Fabian shade that Garrett displayed whenever he wanted Sydney to meet with him at the wall between the properties of the Booths and the Rutledges. Fabian was a pop star whose career flourished between 1958 and 1963. He did release one single in '89 but the question is: Why Fabian? Of all the popular recording artists or personalities to choose from in 1992, why pick Fabian to put on the shade? Were they just too cheap to buy the rights to use a current performer's image? It just seems unlikely that Garrett, Sydney, or Glory would have listened to any of Fabian's music. It's something that Mayor Rutledge might have enjoyed.
The Swans Crossing Theme was written by Steve Lane and Richard W. Winzeler. They most recently teamed to do the music for the musical production of GREAT EXPECTATIONS at the Utah Shakespeare Festival in 2010.
The only actual place named Swans Crossing seems to be a large camping area
in Kerwong State Forest, Australia.
Below is a photo:
The Doll Conspiracy is the theory that Swans Crossing was conceived by toymaker Playmates as a means of selling, not only Swans Crossing dolls, but other toys as well. When the Swans Crossing dolls did not do well, the show was cancelled. Supportive of the conspiracy theory is the fact that while it was on the air, one of its main sources of advertising revenue was from toy companies marketing Star Trek and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles toys and the like. Swans Crossing dolls were advertised during the show, in violation of Federal law.
Sarah Skilton blogged about THE DOLL CONSPIRACY, a theory that has pretty much
disappeared from the web.
Playmates Toys is located in Costa Mesa, California, and is a subsidiary of Playmates Holdings Ltd in Hong Kong.
There are many Swans Crossing dolls up for bid on eBay at the moment.
At the very beginning of episode 14, there is a brief scene with a waitress who is never seen again on the show serving a milkshake to a man sitting alone at a table in Swans Soda Shop. The man looks a lot like New York filmmaker Spike Lee. And there is a possible connection between Lee and the show. Both Spike Lee and David Toney (who played Bryce Atwater) were in the 1990 film LONELY IN AMERICA.
Above is a letter written by Brittany Daniel while she was doing Swans Crossing. The letter reads: "Lynne, Just wanted to drop you a line to tell you how much we appreciate all of your support for Swans Crossing. Hope to meet up with you at the Youth Film Awards in L.A. My twin sister and I will be attending the awards, as I have been nominated Best Young Actress on an Off-prime-time Series. I also believe three other Swans Crossing cast members have been nominated as well. Thanks again for all your support. See you soon! - Brittany"
Not a lot of current information is available about Kristine Byers, who was Dolores in episode 35 of
Swans Crossing (the Nudibranch Benefit). This packet of info has surfaced:
Height: 1.7 m
Weight: 51 kg
Hair Colour: Light Auburn
Eye Colour: Green
Measurements: 86-61-86 (cm)
Dress size:4
Inseam: 86.3cm
Shoe size: 7 1/2
Devin Doherty - 1/2/78 - Larchmont, NY
Kristen Mahon - 1/13/79 - New York City
Jason Culp - 1/15/61 - Los Angeles, CA
Holter Graham - 2/11/72 - Baltimore, MD
Carisa Dahlbo - 2/12/77 - Kansas City, MO
Laurie Kennedy - 2/14/48 - Hollywood, CA
Brittany Daniel - 3/17/76 - Gainesville, FL
Charlie Sara - 3/19/67 - Teaneck, NJ
Eddie Tyclus Robinson - 4/2/78 - ?
Sarah Michelle Gellar - 4/14/77 - New York City
Susan Ward - 4/15/76 - Monroe, LA
Shane Mcdermott - 4/24/76 - Middleton, NY
Evan Ferrante - 5/6/79 - ?
Nick Wyman - 5/18/50 - Portland, ME
Alvin Lum - 5/28/31 - Honolulu, HI
John Cunningham - 6/22/32 - Auburn, NY
Don Symington - 8/30/25 - Baltimore, MD
Tom Carroll - 9/13/75 - Bucks County, PA
Gerry Bamman - 9/18/41 - Independence, KS
M.B. Battisti - 9/26/65 - Ephrata, PA
Mira Sorvino - 9/28/67 - Tenafly, NJ
Alex Tanaka - 11/2/74 - Huntington, NY
Kristy Barbera - 11/3/77 - Mt. Vernon, NY
Wai Ching Ho - 11/16/43 - Hong Kong
Barry Papick - 11/16/xx - Jersey City NJ
Stacey Moseley - 12/20/75 - Chesapeake, VA
The phone number for Swans Soda Shop was mentioned in the show (234-643-xxxx The last four digits add to 19. All four digits are different. Three of them are even numbers. The largest of the digits is the second and the smallest is the fourth. Digits one and two divide evenly by a common third number >1, as do digits three and four. None of the digits is twice any of the others.) At the time the 234 area code did not exist. Presently, however, it is located in northeast Ohio. The number does belong to someone now, but it is unlisted.
Stars shine, but you shine brighter.
Gold glitters, but you're worth more
Diamonds are hard and cold
But you are sweet and pure
Because of you in every soul I see a miracle
You flash in my heart like a light from the sun
And I take your warmth with me all day long
Through you, I know every soul is a miracle
--- J.T. Adams
3 More poems by J.T. Adams are in the EPISODE GUIDE
Carisa Dahlbo was born in Kansas City, Missouri 12 February 1977. She has a brother named Brandon and a sister Amber. At the time of Swans Crossing she was 4 feet 9 inches tall and weighed 88 lbs.
Nancy Robbins, Sydney's snobbish friend, was played by Kristy Barbera. Barbera was last known to be attending Loyola College in Baltimore, MD in the mid-1990's.
Captain Walker's undersea houseboat had a periscope disguised as a swan. This wouldn't be good camoflage everywhere. Swans live in temperate climates although they migrate northward as far as Alaska and Siberia. There are few if any in the tropics and none in Africa.
SWANS CROSSING aired 29 June to 25 September 1992 and Ran 13 weeks (65 episodes) in syndication. 50 episodes ran on USA network in 1993-94. The show was created by Ned Kandel and Mardee Kravit and taped at Kaufman Astoria Studios in New York.
Barry Papick (Second Baldie) is opening ACTORS SMASH, a Los Angeles based acting school for everyone from novices to working professionals. Classes include "exercises to develop the actor's instrument as well as advanced scene-study". Papick plays a tourist in the film LAKE EFFECTS which stars Jane Seymoour and Sean Patrick Flannery (Tom Bartlett in SIMPLY IRRESISTIBLE). LAKE EFFECTS had its first screening in Smith Mountain Lake, VA in October 2011.
Papick is Judge Heffron in REJOUER (Replay), the first full length feature film shot with the Panasonic GH1, by Liam Finn (he wrote, produced and directed). The film stars Lancer Dean Shull, Nicole Dicastra, and Summer Still.
Carisa Dahlbo (Glory Booth) did one McDonald's commercial. She lived in
Plano, TX and worked in apartment management for about 10 years. Unconfirmed reports say that she has married for
a second time and is now living in Carrolltown, Texas and working in Real Estate.
David Toney's first film was also Denzel Washington's first film. It was a 1979
production of CORIOLANUS by the New York Shakespeare Festival. In 1990 he was Duncan in the film LONELY IN
AMERICA. Toney's most recent appearance on television was as Dr. Manquary in ALL MY CHILDREN in 2005.
Delphi Harrington (Countess Rosnovsky) , played the title role in "For Elise" written by David Zellnik and directed by Pamela Berlin, at Ensemble Studio Theatre's Marathon 2011, Series B in New York.
Harrington portrayed one of the servants in a Broadway production of "Les Liaisons Dangereuses" in 2008 that starred Ben Daniels and Laura Linney. In 2009 she played Vanya's mother in an off-Broadway production of Chekov's UNCLE VANYA with Maggie Gyllenhaal and Dennis O'Hare.
Devin Doherty (Jimmy Clayton) has recorded one album and is about to
release a second. The first album, self-titled, is available from iTunes. Cuts from the soon to be released
second album are avaiable for listening at his MYSPACE page.
Find more artists like Devin Doherty at Myspace Music
Eddie Robinson
(Neil Atwater) now goes by the name Eddie Tyclus, is the frontman for the Los Angeles band SWIVEL. Other bandmenbers are: Tai Heard, Jet,
and Jason Rarick.
Find more artists like Eddie Tyclus at Myspace Music
Gayle Samuels (Officer Moore)
most recently played the role of Mrs. Loftus in Little House on the Prairie starring Melissa Gilbert at the
Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis. In the past she has toured as a featured vocalist with Harry Belafonte.
Kristine Byers (Dolores) Co-starred with Dean Cain in the 2003 film DRAGON FIGHTER, which was filmed
in Sofia, Bulgaria. The model and actress now lives in Los Angeles.
"We're more of an action-adventure soap-serial. We decided not to do problem/solution stories like teenage alcoholism, child abuse, drugs. Instead we asked what is the most obvious concern of adolescents? When the world is falling apart around me, what am I most concerned about? Who likes me? Who is my friend today? Who will ask me out? We decided to make them rich to give them more freedom to get where they wanted to go."
M.B. Battisti (Jazz) is now M.B. Parkes, married
with two children and living in Leicester, UK. She is a director of Midland Tanking Ltd.
Mira Sorvino (Sophie Eva McCormick DeCastro) won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her role in "Mighty Aphrodite" in 1995. In honor of Sorvino's role as Dr. Susan Tyler, an entomologist in the feature film, MIMIC, a compound excreted by the sunburst diving beetle as a defensive mechanism was named mirasorvone.
Sorvino is now in a new film MULTIPLE SARCASMS, which also stars Timothy Hutton (Leverage), Dana Delaney, and Stockard Channing, who was in "Jake's Women" with Gellar in 1990. The film deals with an architect who becomes a playwright in order to better examine his own life.
Nick Wyman (Grant Booth) portrays
a soap actor in SYNECDOCHE, NEW YORK. He was also Dirk Criterion in Funny Farm with Sarah Michelle Gellar. In
2008 he was John Barsad in the Broadway musical A TALE OF TWO CITIES. This year he was Roger Strong in the play CATCH ME IF YOU CAN at the Neil Simon
Theater in New York.
The Baldies' map (on the screen of their fabulously advanced computer)
seems to indicate the vicinity of Providence, RI as the location of Swans Crossing.
The rescue of Mila Rosnovsky seems to indicate a more northerly location.
The computer the Baldies are using is an IBM PS/2 Model 50, which came out in 1987. It was a PS/2, which had the Intel 80286 processor (12.5 Mhz - 16 bit). The PS/2 introduced the Micro Channel bus, VGA graphics and the 3.5" floppy disk.
Part of an envelope sent to Professor Vann, the personna used by Neil and J.T. to disguise their scientific activities, is shown in the show. Note the zip code (which I have enlarged). The zip code shown is a New York City zip. The name Professor Vann was derived from one Stevie Vann, a classmate of Neil and J.T. in the third grade who thought he was smarter than J.T. and hence was dubbed "professor".
There were four types of dolls: Dance Party, Slumber Party, Rock Concert, and Hangin' Out. Not every character had all four types of doll. The first doll I've seen for a male character is the John Troy "J.T." Adams doll. I do not recall the full name ever being mentioned on the show, but the doll is labeled that way.
There was, apparently, a Garrett Booth Dance Party doll. On the back was Swans Crossing Society News. John Troy Adams was the only other male Swans crossing character to have a doll.
The benefit was undertaken by Countess Rosnovsky in the hope of getting someting going with Captain Walker. The synchronized swimmers were from Waterworks Foundation Inc. in New York. The harpist at the benefit was Simone Cunars.
Commonly called a sea-slug, the nudibranch is a soft-bodied, marine opisthobranch gastropod mollusk which sheds its shell after a larval stage. The name is latin for "naked gills". There are over 3,000 described species. They live at all ocean depths, but are most common in warm, shallow waters. The smallest are 20mm long. The largest are some 600mm long. They are carnivorous and hermaphroditic. It is interesting that the food served at the benefit consisted mainly of shellfish.
EPISODE ONE SYNOPSIS: Sydney returns from horse camp. Garrett returns from France. Callie and her father return from the Seychelles. Ralph gets a ticket for doing 80 chasing Garrett on his mini-bike (at Sydney's urging). They are all greeted by J.T. and Neil's rocket launch, which explodes on the pad. Garrett runs toward Sydney, who has caught up with him, as the rocket is launched, then ducks out of sight under cover of the smoke. Sydney becomes hysterical, thinking she has killed him. After a few minutes, Sydney realizes what Garrett has done and says that if Garrett doesn't show at Swans Soda Shop in one hour she's going to send the cops after him. Garrett sits by the water, planning to wait one hour and ten minutes before returning, when he is confronted by a helmeted figure...
DOWNLOAD WMV VERSION OF EPISODE ONE
EPISODE 65 SYNOPSIS: Sydney and Mila return from shopping in preparation for the new school term. Garrett awaits word from record producers he has contacted on behalf of Mila. Barek discovers that Owen has been filming at random all around town and insists on a screening. He has Owen freeze the frame that first shows one of the Baldies. Sydney and Nancy do more shopping. Garrett announces to Sydney his intention to make public her "questionable" ancestry. Mayor Rutledge drops all sorts of hints that something unspecified is wrong. Sandy announces that she is a vegetarian. It all ends with the Goodbye to Summer Party (thrown by Sydney). None of the plots is resolved.
DOWNLOAD WMV VERSION OF FINAL EPISODE
