This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, Jan. 28, 2013 - Sets designed by Miles Vesich could put audiences in the seats of the “Apollo Theatre,” in the room where the unseen hand of The Invisible Man moved things about or in the prison city of Manhattan as the president of the United States sought to Escape from New York .
Mr. Vesich, one of St. Louis’ most prolific set designers and art directors for television, videos and theatrical productions, died Tuesday, Jan. 22, at Mercy Hospital where he was being treated for pneumonia. He was 62.
A friend, Kevin Berwin, said Mr. Vesich had been in declining health since a head injury from a fall damaged his central nervous system in 2000, and a subsequent fall about four years ago caused his health to further deteriorate.
He had lived in “showcase” homes in the Central West End for most his life, until moving to a condo on Broadway in recent years.
“His first place on Maryland was only 700 square feet but had a bar, a fireplace and a spiral staircase – to nowhere,” Berwin recalled laughing. “Miles was amazing when it came to creating.”
There will be a party Friday, Feb. 1, in Mr. Vesich’s honor in the studios of STL TV, the city’s access channel, that will feature some of the sets he designed.
Stage left
For more than two decades, Mr. Vesich’s sets were familiar to television audiences of STL TV, KETC TV-9, KSDK-TV 5 and KMOV-TV 4, for which he garnered two local National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Emmy awards.
The Emmys were for his set design for "Viets Beat," the quirky, homespun primetime television program hosted by then-St. Louis Post-Dispatch columnist, Elaine Viets.
He came up with a nostalgic office, replete with clunky desk, clanky manual typewriter and Viets’ signature pink flamingo, all sitting amid the clutter of wadded up, discarded ideas. (See picture at left and YouTube video below.)
“His strength was his imagination,” Berwin said. “He could take a dark, empty space and skillfully transform it into a glitzy ballroom, a working medical laboratory or a king’s palace.”
He had a creative hand in the Channel 9 set of "Donnybrook" and Channel 5’s "The Sally Jessy Raphael Show," which became nationally syndicated. Television had not originally been in his plans.
Mr. Vesich earned a bachelor’s degree from Webster University in 1974 and received a master’s degree in theatrical design from Purdue University in 1976. He thought his future was in stage work and for a time it was.
At Webster, he helped build sets for the Loretto-Hilton Theatre, spent three summers working with New York designers at the Santa Fe Opera, and in 1976, he did "Van Gogh," an off-Broadway show. He later worked at theaters and opera houses in Baltimore, Washington, D.C., Connecticut, Kentucky and Minnesota.
During a visit home to St. Louis in 1979, friends at Maritz gave him some TV work, and broadcast became a permanent and lucrative staple.
Along with TV stations, Charter Communications, CPI Corp./Sears and Old El Paso Taco Chips, the St. Louis Police Department and the St. Louis Public Schools were among the organizations that availed themselves of Mr. Vesich’s skills.
He designed Sherlock Holmes’ Baker Street flat for an R.J. Reynolds industrial film and transformed a garage into a barn for a Monsanto herbicide commercial. The first of his five local Emmys was for a Southwestern Bell set. Jessica Brown was the producer.
“Miles did dozens of projects for us,” Brown said, “and his stuff was gorgeous. He was a genius. He was able to keep everybody happy, occupied and focused.”
Mr. Vesich did not forgo the stage altogether. During the ‘90s, he designed sets for The New Theatre’s productions of "Pantomime," "Angel City" and "The Tongue of a Bird" Reviews called his work “attractive,” “effective” and “superb.”
He had a brush with Hollywood when the 1981 movie "Escape from New York" was filmed in East St. Louis and St. Louis. A homegrown professional, Mr. Vesich was the perfect assistant for production designer Joe Alves.
Against the odds
He was born Mile (without the “s”) Robert Vesich in St. Louis on Dec. 20, 1950, the only child of a mostly absent father and a mother who did hard domestic work to take care of him.
He graduated from Roosevelt High School despite having dyslexia, a learning disability that hinders the ability to read, write and spell.
“Miles arranged letters like a secret code,” said Berwin, who was unaware of his friend’s disability for years. “I don’t know how he got through school.”
Perhaps it explains, Berwin said, why he was so visual.
Mr. Vesich dabbled in real estate and, in 2006, became an adjunct faculty member at Webster University. One of his latest projects was Mercury Multimedia’s nationally syndicated TV show, cinemattractions.
“He would sketch and produce and was very resourceful in terms of the engineering and the mechanics, making elaborate sets with what needed to be there to function,” Berwin said. “I believe he developed all of these skills partly in reaction to his disability.”
In addition to Emmys, Mr. Vesich won a Flair award, an American Advertising Federation Addy award and a slew of Telly awards.
Working or not, a sketch pad was always in hand, unless he was playing the organ (he studied with Stan Kann), comfortably ensconced at Duff’s Restaurant or keeping company with Johnny Walker Red at O’Connell’s Pub.
“He was magical and such a fine, classy guy,” Brown said.
In addition to his father, Robert Vesich, Mr. Vesich was preceded in death by his mother, Dorothy George Vesich.
Mr. Vesich never married or had children. His survivors include a cousin, Dimitry (Olga) Oransky of Festus.
There will be no services, but the party starts at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 1, at STL TV, 4971 Oakland Ave., St. Louis, Mo. 63110.
His ashes will be spread in the mountains around Santa Fe, N.M., where Mr. Vesich had hoped to one day spend some time and “just draw and paint.”
Memorials would be appreciated to Burns Recovered Support Group, Inc., 11710 Administration Drive, St Louis, MO 63146.