Do you think it would be a better idea to use the start time of the first event in both cases?
In which view mode and do you mean vertical spacing between the title and the footer? I have had one report where Google Calendar always adds a space in the description field of an all-day event which the current version displays. I have worked around this in the current development version and that fix will be included in the next releases.
IMHO, it is needed information and gives also a consistent structure..