The Gang's All Here

“It’s colossal, it’s stupendous, and one of the artiest productions ever made… It is a Technicolor dream that takes on nightmarish proportions or the aspects of a Dali drawing in motion.”
So said the New York Daily News and it kind of sums up Twentieth Century Fox’s 1943 Technicolor extravaganza, The Gang’s All Here, in a nutshell. Directed by Busby Berkeley at his most outrageous, the film starred Alice Faye, Carmen Miranda, James Ellison, Phil Baker, Benny Goodman and his Orchestra, and such stalwart character actors as Eugene Pallette, Charlotte Greenwood, and Dave Willock. The film is loaded with great musical numbers, and has there ever been a number like “The Lady in the Tutti Fruitti Hat,” with all those chorines holding huge bananas, especially considering the era in which the film was made? The film was very popular – the war was on and audiences wanted and needed respite from it and The Gang’s All Here really delivered the Technicolor escapism they craved.
The Gang’s All Here had a screenplay by Walter Bullock (Springtime in the Rockies, Greenwich Village) but it really was just an excuse to have a whole lot of great musical numbers, many of which were written by the great Harry Warren and Leo Robin. Add to that the King of Swing, Benny Goodman and his Orchestra, and numbers like “You Discover You’re in New York,” “Minnie’s in the Money,” “No Love, No Nothin’,” “A Journey to a Star” “Paducah,” the wacky final number, “The Polka Dot Polka” and others, and you have a big, bountiful cake with mounds of delectable frosting. As surreal as the whole concoction is, it is a wildly entertaining ride every step of the way.
Over the years, the film has attained camp classic status, but it’s more than just camp – it’s a crazy Technicolor fever dream filled with Berkeley’s mad genius and wonderful performances and music. To say they don’t make ‘em like this anymore would be the understatement of all time.
For this first ever legitimate CD release of The Gang’s All Here, we present all the music recorded for the film, as well as a few unused cues, all culled from materials in the Fox vaults and restored by Mike Matessino.