Danny Gans: The Man of Many Voices Who Lost His Own

How do you tell the truth about your own father when the whole world knew him as the Man of Many Voices?

Danny Gans could become almost anyone on stage. He was the first headliner in Las Vegas to sell a $100 ticket, and for years his shows sold out night after night. Offstage, he was living with chronic pain he kept close to his chest. When his son, Andrew Davies Gans, set out to make a film about him, he planned an inspirational story about an athlete who reinvented himself. Then he started learning things about his father he had never known.

In Episode 280, Christian Taylor sits down with Andrew Davies Gans, director and producer of Voices: The Danny Gans Story, his first documentary as a director. Andrew lost his father and his own dream of a baseball career in the same month, turned to acting and screenwriting, and went on to produce about a dozen films before he felt ready to direct. On the 10th anniversary of his father's death, he decided that if Las Vegas would not remember Danny, he would make a film that did.

Andrew talks about filming the first interviews with his mom, losing investors when COVID shut the production down for more than a year, and becoming a father himself in the middle of making a film about his own dad. He shares the advice comedian Louie Anderson gave him about telling a story the hard way, and how he ended up putting himself and his family in front of the camera. He explains why he built a key moment of the film around his father's on-stage performance of the Scent of a Woman speech, and why, after many sleepless nights, he decided to tell the truth about Danny's chronic pain. As Andrew puts it, "I think he's more of a hero when you realize that he's human."

In this episode, you'll learn:

• How three generations of the Gans family traded baseball for the stage
• How Danny Gans became the first $100 ticket in Las Vegas
• What it takes to direct your first documentary about your own father
• How a teaser cut from one interview with his mom helped raise money
• How COVID nearly ended the film, and what the delay made possible
• Why Andrew decided to put himself and his family in the film
• What Louie Anderson taught Andrew about telling a story the hard way
• Why a first-time director shouldn't wait to be 100% prepared
• Why Andrew gave his editor a writing credit
• What Donny Osmond, Tony Orlando and Lance Burton said about the pressure on a headliner, and how Steve Wynn built Danny two theaters

CHAPTERS

0:00 Losing a Father and a Dream

5:34 How Did Danny Gans Become a Vegas Star?

10:54 Why Andrew Made This Film

18:27 Fatherhood and Stepping Into the Frame

22:57 Louie Anderson and the Hard Way

26:30 Scent of a Woman and Telling the Truth

35:20 Don't Wait to Be 100% Prepared

38:16 A Writing Credit for the Editor

41:48 Donny Osmond, Tony Orlando, Steve Wynn

48:37 What Comes Next for Andrew

52:37 Shuffle and Searching for Sugar Man

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Who was Danny Gans?

Danny Gans was a singer, actor and impressionist billed as the Man of Many Voices. A former baseball player whose career ended with a torn Achilles tendon, he turned his gift for voices and comedy into a Las Vegas career, headlining theaters built for him at the Mirage and later the Encore. His son confirms he was the first performer in Las Vegas to sell a $100 ticket.

What is Voices: The Danny Gans Story about?

Voices: The Danny Gans Story is a documentary about the Las Vegas entertainer, directed by his son, Andrew Davies Gans. The first half follows Danny's rise from baseball to the Strip. The second half turns personal, as Andrew wrestles on camera with how much of his father's private struggle with chronic pain to reveal, while becoming a father himself.

How did Danny Gans die?

Danny Gans died on May 1, 2009, at age 52, at his home in Henderson, Nevada. The coroner ruled his death an adverse reaction to the prescription painkiller hydromorphone, combined with a pre-existing heart condition, and stated it was not related to drug abuse. In the film, his son explores the chronic pain his father lived with and the treatment he received for it.

How do you make a documentary about your own family?

Andrew Davies Gans started by interviewing his mother and cutting that interview into a teaser to raise money. He planned an inspirational biography, but the film changed as he learned more. His advice is to accept that you will never be 100% prepared, stay open in interviews instead of sticking to your question list, and let the story you find replace the story you planned.

DOCUVIEW DÉJÀ VU PICKS

Andrew's picks:

• Searching for Sugar Man (2012), the story of a musician whose forgotten album found a huge audience in another country: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2125608/
• Shuffle, a documentary about fraud in the drug rehabilitation industry, which Andrew saw on the festival circuit and was not yet released at the time of recording: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt35520195/

SPONSORED BY VIRGIL FILMS ENTERTAINMENT

This episode is brought to you by Virgil Films Entertainment, distributor of Super Size Me and the Oscar-nominated Restrepo, with over 25 years of distribution experience. https://virgilfilms.com

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ABOUT THE GUEST

Andrew Davies Gans

Director and Producer, Glanzrock Productions

Andrew Davies Gans grew up in Las Vegas and Los Angeles and was drafted to play professional baseball out of high school before a third labrum tear ended his career. He turned to acting, then screenwriting, then producing, and has produced about a dozen films. Voices: The Danny Gans Story is his directorial debut. He premiered the film at Dances With Films in Los Angeles and took it to about a dozen festivals, including the Austin Film Festival, the Julien Dubuque International Film Festival and the San Luis Obispo International Film Festival. His next project is a scripted film.

Website: https://glanzrock.productions

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gans_andrew

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-davies-gans

Glanzrock Productions on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/p/Glanzrock-Productions-100063642647635/

ABOUT DANNY GANS

Danny Gans was a Las Vegas singer, actor and impressionist known as the Man of Many Voices. Steve Wynn built theaters for him at the Mirage and later at the Encore. He died in 2009 at the age of 52.

ABOUT DOCUMENTARY FIRST

Documentary First is a weekly podcast about the people behind documentaries and how the work changed them. Host Christian Taylor, director of the award-winning The Girl Who Wore Freedom, talks with filmmakers from Ken Burns to first-time directors. Listen Notes ranks the show in the top 5% of all podcasts worldwide.

RESOURCES MENTIONED

• Voices: The Danny Gans Story (IMDb): https://www.imdb.com/title/tt36590609/
• Danny Gans (Wikipedia, source for the dates and coroner's ruling above): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danny_Gans
• Scent of a Woman (1992), the source of the "Charlie has taken the right path" speech
• Louie Anderson, comedian (1953 to 2022)
• Donny Osmond, Tony Orlando, Lance Burton and Steve Wynn, who appear in the film
• The Deep Dive on this episode, "The Disappointment You Didn't Choose": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2VEoEt44GQ