One of the things I treasure most about what Ive learned is that concept of taking one day at a time. For Vance, a good job meant finding an inspirational or at least an amusing story, using his skills as a storyteller to paint word pictures as vividly as a high-definition TV. By the late 70s, Vance was an institution. Written by Royal Kennedy Rodgers. He knew his bosses realized his performance was off, and he was terrified they would find out the reason. We played chicken on the air., They sat there, two seasoned newscasters on live television, until a producer yelled into Vances ear from the control room: Somebody say something!, Shes incredibly stubborn when she wants to be, Vance says. Prior to becoming an independent producer, Ms. McCampbell-Vance worked at . She is currently an independent producer based in Washington, DC. The next day, it was like, I gotta get some dope. But Vance invites only so much familiarity. [1] Vance was also recognized as anchor and reporter for extended news coverage of Super Bowl XXII. The hour-long film, produced by PBS SoCal and RKR Media, is directed and produced by Royal Kennedy Rodgers and Kathy McCampbell-Vance. An honor to have known & worked with him. We were just sitting there, talking the usual homeboy shit, and somewhere between dinner and dessert, Bradley said, Vance, do you remember what Jim Brown said to Richard Pryor when he went to see him after Pryor set himself on fire [freebasing cocaine]? Hollywood has long held the reputation of a community filled with liberal creativesmany of them American immigrants and California transplants. While Vance was away, Van Messel urged his friends to write to him, telling him why he needed to get well and come back. I used to walk through the house and somebody would inevitably do this he gets up to illustrate a swift slapping motion starting at the midriff and ending under the chin meaning, Straighten up. Vance spoke openly about drug addiction, went fishing with George H. W. Bush, was consulted by Marion Barry, and helped form a new black elite in Washington D.C., the Post reported. This is me. Gentzler: The four of us had a lot of fun over the years, just starting trouble with each other: Lets see if we can make Bob turn red. Executive Producer Michelle Merker. The Vances throw the occasional big party, but they dont entertain much. Other speakers of note include Francis Kr, Glenn Murcutt, and producer Kathy McCampbell Vance, who will be discussing the legacy and impact of Paul Revere Williams after Hollywood's . I was a baby with a baby, he says. Aunt Vivie didnt get mad even when she lent him her car and he smashed it up. I realized pretty early that I could probably do okay in this business. That was 17 years ago. To this day, according to station sources, there are some viewers who will never forgive or forget that Vance had a drug problem. They gave me a standing ovation. Bradley and Bucky were city kids, and they used to laugh at me for being country. But somehow, when they Jonesed on me, it didnt hurt my feelings. They had police radios in their cars, and when they heard an accident, they would haul ass, trying to get there before any other wreck-chaser. I was a big man on campus. Vance got $50 a week to live on. Will they continue to get it from people like us? Arch Campbell Remembers His Friend Jim Vance. I remember the day I got normal on television. theyre made to be comfortable and lived in so you dont feel like youre toiling awayyou feel relaxed in the beautiful environment. Powered by. Shes tough. Anything you needed, they could fix up for you. Our great News4 and community friend Jim Vance has died. On another level, as a black man, I was angry, embarrassed, ashamed, and hurtashamed because of what whites would think, and angry because I felt he was giving his enemies such a cheap shot., Contrary to widespread innuendo, Vance and Barry were never pals or fellow drug-users. Blacks were not allowed in the plumbers union in those days, which kept them out of construction jobs. I went to the moon, and it was a pleasant ride. They would go riding up the sidewalks, down one-way streets the wrong way at 110 miles an hour, never stopping for red lightsI mean it was exciting to ride with those guys., The wreck-chasers, who wore fine clothes and drove fancy cars, would present themselves to the accident victims before the police or anyone else could get there. I was a 50s kid, he says. If you've lived here for decades, you understand. At a time when most African Americans worked as servants or laborers, Paul Williams was . Many people, from other well-known journalists to average fans, dubbed Vance a legend. There was despair at the thought of all those years of work and the opportunity hed been given going down the drain. All of those years, I thought it was so important that no tears ever be shed from these eyes. And I love the way some people look at me. And there was no guarantee hed come back., One person who believed otherwise was Van Messel. I didnt know that I hated myself, that I spent all of those years trying to live down to my expectations of myself while at the same time trying to live up to everybody elses expectations for me. Kathy McCampbell Vance is an Emmy Award winning television producer, specializing in news, entertainment, and documentary production. The worst position a human being can be in is to disappoint your child on Christmas morning. 1976), two grandsons and one granddaughter. A private session with the mayor, he knew, would make his own problems public again. [9], Beginning in 1989, Vance was part of the longest-running anchor team in Washington D.C. television, alongside co-anchor and health reporter Doreen Gentzler. One was, Youre a real clever guy. Vance: Please tell your husband I said thank you. I can handle that. I was out of there. Television and documentary producer Kathy McCampbell-Vance, of Washington, said the film encouraged her to become an organ donor. In her documentary work, Shirlyns expertise is in finding and booking high-profile interviews as well as scheduling and coordinating video and film shoots. Heres this wonderfully educated, well-spoken suburban mom, apple pie, all-American, but I dont go near the line with Doreen. As a consequence, I developed the total conviction that there wasnt any way in the world that I could ever be addicted to any chemical substance. If I go blank, shell pick it up and leave it to the director to figure out how to get the camera onto her. The African-American Denominational Houses (AADHs) mission is to serve as an interfaith community that is woven into the fabric of Chautauqua, and to inspire, and to be inspired by, the Chautauquan values of lifelong learning, civil discourse and exploring the best in human values. Our kids had to speak proper English, says Vivien Cherry. I mean there were two guns on the table. This time I was willing to do anything, go anywhere. I wanted to kill that son of a bitch, he says, able to laugh at the incident now. But the fierceness of her love was such that I could be intimidated by her.. "Hollywood's Architect", produced and directed by Royal Kennedy Rodgers and Kathy McCampbell Vance, tells the story of how Williams navigated LA's white society and designed some of the city's most gracious buildings. He continued to work at recovery, going to AA or NA meetings every day and continuing to see his therapist. [4] It was at Cheyney where Vance became a lifelong member of Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity and built a life-long friendship with Ed Bradley. A group of aristocratic, light-skinned blacks in a neighboring community had built their own swimming poolthe Nile Swim Cluband they were selective about who could join. As Vance said, thats what local TV news does best.Vance: Any big snowstorm. She comes to the news desk with extra notes and wire copy; Vance likes to wing it. He stayed in treatment for five weeks, and he came back that February determined to stay clean. I would not want to piss her off. The documentary is directed and produced by Royal Kennedy Rodgers and Kathy McCampbell Vance along with Executive Producer Michelle Merker. Its still hurting. He took his knee and slammed it into the back of mine. She says it was his line, it wasnt a good one, and he was trying to foist it off on her. With Karen Grigsby Bates, she has written Basic Black: Home Training for Modern Times and The New Basic Black, both etiquette books for our times. If I had seen George or Bob or Arch, I would have gone the other way. I have been coming into work with my partners here whenever I can, and I shall continue to do that. Kathy McCampbell Vance is an Emmy Award winning television producer, specializing in news, entertainment, and documentary production. Vance had three children, Dawn, Amani, and Brendon. I remember praying out loud in the car. No local news anchors have been together as long as Vance and Gentzler, who have both won multiple Emmy Awards and whose 6 and 11 oclock shows are the top-rated local newscasts in their time slots. PBS SoCal, Southern California's home for the premieres of new PBS programs, hosted the world premiere of the new documentary Hollywood's Architect: The Paul R. Williams Story on Feb. 3 at . Kathy McCampbell Vance: Children: 3: James Howard Vance III (January 10, 1942 - July 22, 2017) was an American television news presenter in Washington, D.C. Sometimes he left at the end of the 6 oclock show and didnt come back at all. And I was. The only anchor who has been around as long is Channel 9 anchorman Gordon Peterson. Illustration by Kyle T. Webster. Finally, I opened the door and saw this steep flight of stairs that I hope to my dying day I wont forgetthese old wooden stairs that sag and bow and creak, and crap all over the walls. One, because I knew what he must be suffering. Kathy recalls the time, before they were married, when she was hospitalized after breaking her back in a car accident. Or, viewers can watch it online at kcet.org. A designer showcase house [we feature in the documentary] was Tudor Revival on the outside and then theres a Baroque landing and a staircase with some Spanish influence . He moved to Potomac and broke up with Kathy. Now its go home and see if you can get them off the computer to talk to you for 30 seconds. Jim Vance Wife & Children: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know, Copyright 2023 Heavy, Inc. All rights reserved. Amtrak wouldnt talk, so it was not the easiest of assignments. At work, Vance was moody and unapproachable. Zodiac pool and pool house at Jay Paley home. His father, who came back from World War II with a bad drinking problem, died of cirrhosis of the liver when Jim was 9. Submit architecture films, subscribe to news letter, and contact us. There were times when it was nearly impossible to get him to come out of his office to read the 20-second teases every afternoon from the newsroom. In a medium full of hype, Vance is the no-bullshit guy. I was one pissed-off black father. Ill never forget the pain and utter shame of looking people in the eye, which I forced myself to do, and saying good morning or good afternoon. . His father-in-law staked him to a gas station, which he opened and closed every day. . Kathy especially was a rock. Kathy McCampbell Vance President at Kamax Productions, LLC Washington, DC. The African-American Heritage House is a non-profit organization, dependent upon your support to fulfill its mission. [3] Between 1976 and 1980, Vance co-anchored with Sue Simmons, a pairing that resulted in one of the first, if not the first, African-American co-anchors of a major market newscast. And if I can find a spittoon, I am really at home. I managed to read and do the walk. Have you always been like that? And when the tears came, it was like 30-some years of tears I let loose. His co-anchor at the time, Lea Thompson, was handed a slip of paper. He finally hit bottom. We goofed. THROUGH IT ALL, Kathy, Jim Van Messel, Richard Liebner, and a handful of others never gave up on him. He battled a cocaine addiction in the late '70s and early '80s, later going public with the ordeal. I certainly dont expect to be celebrating my 50th anniversary at WRC, he laughs. They could remember when abusing blacks was Saturday-night sport. James Howard Vance III (January 10, 1942 July 22, 2017)[1] was an American television news presenter in Washington, D.C. Born on January 10, 1942,[2] Jim Vance grew up in Ardmore, Pennsylvania, a suburb west of Philadelphia. Its like the struggle I had being comfortable with becoming a reasonably successful black man. And he always finds time to talk to young people who are either in treatment or at risk of using drugs. Vances station said he died after a brief battle with cancer., Ive had to take some time off, but its not my own choosing, Vance told viewers on May 4. . Ordinarily at that hour, Vance would have been on his way to a Narcotics Anonymous meeting, but he had gone earlier in the day. Hed stand as close as he could get to speeding trains. In the literature, they say the disease is cunning, baffling, and powerful, and now theyve added a fourth one. To have come from where he comes from, and undergone what he has undergone, and to emerge with his pride and dignity intact. icle appears in the July 2011 issue of The Washingtonian. They made us football rookies sit on a stool and drink a Welchs jelly glass full of vodka. He will be missed. My effort to imitate him came off as a Duck Walk, as I recall another cast member saying. Vance, who grew up in a suburb west of Philadelphia, was the son of a plumber. Or he stayed gone for the next day or two. Vance: Ill tell you when that happenedon that awful day in 1982 with the crash of Air Florida 90, the Metro collision, and the snowstorm. pic.twitter.com/AeogiIHo19, Tom Sherwood (@tomsherwood) July 22, 2017. I can certainly see it as arrogance now, but at the time, I really felt I was representing the entire race. When he was interviewing Kris Ostrowski for the job of assistant news director that fall, he made sure she met Vance before sealing the deal. Other outlets scoring multiple wins at the show, [] Vances 11pm newscasts with Gentzler regularly drew more viewers than the prime-time shows of the three major cable news networks combined (CNN, Fox and MSNBC). We got thousands of angry letters, recalls Channel 4 operations manager Joel Albert. One of the things that he set out to do was to make sure that when you were at work, you felt at home, Vance explains. He also collaborated on the eye-catching Space Age design of LAXs Theme Building. Where are my kids?Gentzler: The thing I feel the most pride in is just being there, five nights a week, working with the same partner. An award-winning team of journalists, designers, and videographers who tell brand stories through Fast Company's distinctive lens, The future of innovation and technology in government for the greater good, Fast Company's annual ranking of businesses that are making an outsize impact, Leaders who are shaping the future of business in creative ways, New workplaces, new food sources, new medicine--even an entirely new economic system. And if all kinds of people could let Vance into their homes, as they say about TV, for nearly a half-century no less, maybe we all had more in common than it often seemed. I had never been nowhere with guns on the table. Im a reporter, he says. My father didnt want me, and thats why he died. Thats the bottom line. But one of his therapists at Betty Ford warned him he wasnt out of the woods. Gentzler: The proudest are all breaking news9/11, the train wreck. We were feeling that one like everybody else was: If Im here, wheres my wife? Station management and the higher-ups in New York weighed cutting Vance loose, but Van Messel was adamant that he be given another chance. In 2014, Jim Vance received the Board of Governor's Award for outstanding achievement and community service. Im not sure earth people [non-users] knew how bad off I was. a documentary film directed by Royal Kennedy Rodgers and Kathy McCampbell Vance. She also lectures frequently on the subject to architectural and preservation groups. Its something I never, ever want to do again. Royal Kennedy Rodgers is a producer, director, and writer with experience in local and network news, as well as public broadcasting television. When youre recovering, the compulsion to use again is constant. Kathy McCampbell Vance, Director, Producer George Artope, Editor John Simmons, Camera Niki Alilovic, Associate Producer Shirlyn A. Cesar, Associate Producer. And to come to the full-face realization that it was all bullshitthat I had no control whatsoever, and that I was a complete was devastating. And to ensure that Amani would never for a second think that this breakup was because of her, I spent every available moment with her.. In 22 years together co-anchoring the evening news, there have been lots of unscripted moments. Aunt Rett was always chewing him out for not speaking correctly. Sometimes, he and Vance would dream about their futures. I could read when I was 4, and when we found a gas station, Id see these signs that said COLORED REST ROOM and Id think, Hey, we got our own. Kathy McCampbell Vance. One thing Vance does with the full support of his bosses is his weekly segment Everyday Heroes, chronicling the deeds of ordinary peopleoften blackswho make a difference in their schools, churches, or communitiesa subject he feels strongly about. And I really threw myself into my work.. Jim Vance was a steady voice who shared the news good or bad with grace. I dont look to anyone in this world for approval except Jim Vance, says Channel 4 sportscaster George Michael. Those of us who know him can sense when he needs space, and everybody gave him plenty of it, says Arch Campbell. So I asked the producer if I could have some time. Was it strange not being home for dinner when your children were younger? That came later. Doreen was no shrinking violet. He was Vance, even to his wife. The largest part of my professional life was Vance. Vance had revealed the secret, the fundamentals. And I knew exactly what Ed Bradley was talking about, but I was so full of denial, I acted like, What are you talking about? And then he went on to tell me what he had been hearing and the reason he was there. He was married in 1987 to WRC-TV producer Kathy McCampbell, but they later separated. I will tell them about that shotgun in my mouth. It happens.Vance: We have been blessed to work with management who seem to get us, whove understood that we were not really to be boxed in too much. Tributes flowed in after news of Vances death spread. Like most people in TV in those days, Vance was thrown into the field with very little training. He still has a hard time staying in one place. He had this air about him, says Ted Bucky Nickens, a classmate who is now a deputy chief of the civil-rights division at the Justice Department. I tried every narcotic substance on the face of the earth. IN 1968, someone suggested to Vance that he apply for a job in television. If I could do this every day of my life, this is all you would ever see of me. I was convinced I was such a piece of shit that he'd rather die than hang out with me," Jim Vance later said. What became apparent was two things: Doreen knew how to handle herself, and she didnt need all the face time. Never lazy, Vance went into overdrive. When the [printing] run was done, I would take the papers back to South Philadelphia, then go open up the gas station at 6 oclock and wait for the day guy to come on., He just couldnt let it go, recalls Barbara Vance, who lives in Washington and runs a speakers bureau. For the first time, Vance was able to come to grips with the rage and shame hed been carrying since childhood, such as the resentment he bore towards his uncles. The kid could hang. He was the longest-serving television news anchor in Washington DC, with more than 45 years at WRC-TV. Whatcha gonna do?. After three . They accepted me. FESTIVAL AWARDS. Gentzler: He was the most loyal friend you will ever have. I had to decide, was I a black man who happened to be a reporter, or a reporter who was black? Everything he did was to make the client feel comfortable, Vance says. I used to beat the hell out of myself for not being the best father that the world has ever known, but the proof that I didnt do that badly after all is the fact that I have some absolutely delightful kids. I didnt know anybody except these two guys I went in with, and I was scared to death. I also had to figure out how black I was supposed to be. Then he would do a David Brinkley or a Howard K. Smith. Cheyney was the first experience in my life in a predominantly black environment, where I felt comfortable, safe, and nurtured. I was the captain of my soul, the master of my fate. At the same time he got his first taste of the news business, doing radio newscasts on weekends for a popular deejay known as the Mighty Burner., His real love was the Philadelphia Independent, a now-defunct black newspaper acquired by his father-in-laws partner. When she was 13, she went to live with him permanently. In the living room, Vance sprawls on the white leather sectional sofa, chain-smoking Camels. Itll evolve, but I dont think theres a time coming that there wont be TVs in peoples houses anymore. That was soso nice.. And I remember people telling me I shouldnt go to the bars on 14th Street. At 4:30 that morning, he went home, crept into the house so Kathy wouldnt hear him, and got his hunting shotgun. On July 22, Vances station announced that he had died. The way I dealt with, my fear was this: I decided there may be reporters at Channel 4 who are more experienced than me, and there may be reporters here who are smarter than me, but I swear to God in heaven, aint nobody in here going to work harder than me. From the early 1920s until his retirement 50 years later, Williams was one of the most successful architects in the country. There were times in recovery when I was not able to t4ke a day at a time. And although Vance didnt plan it that way, there is nothing better he could have done to help his career. And along with the fear, I was also trying to figure out how to get the money to get high again.. View Kathy McCampbell Vance's profile on LinkedIn, the world's largest professional community. Id have to go out and prove everybody was wrong, that this bad person was the real me. She began her career as a reporter for NBC television stations in New Orleans, Cleveland and Chicago. I looked at Jimmy and we both were like, Ill be damned. . They carried blackjacks and zip gunsJim made them them from materials filched from his unclesand fought in gang wars. Flynn asked Vance what he wanted to do. We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. But Jesus, was it ever painful. From the early 1920s until his retirement 50 years later, Williams was one of the most prolific architects in America. Once Vance became the sober Vance, he didnt want to hide anything anymore, she recalled.