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 stageHow Danny Gans became the first $100 ticket in Las VegasWhat it takes to direct your first documentary about your own fatherHow a teaser cut from one interview with his mom helped raise moneyHow COVID nearly ended the film, and what the delay made possibleWhy Andrew decided to put himself and his family in the filmWhat Louie Anderson taught Andrew about telling a story the hard wayWhy a first-time director shouldn't wait to be 100% preparedWhy Andrew gave his editor a writing creditWhat 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