Bob Kensinger, a set decorator on such TV shows as Glee, recalled his two-year stint as Orson Welles’ personal assistant with public radio’s KCRW-FM in Santa Monica, California.
In a largely sympathetic interview with The Organist, Kensinger recalled his personal interactions with Welles, the failed attempts to find backers for The Other Side of the Wind, Welles’ father-son relationship with Roger “Skipper” Hill, and his frustration doing TV commercials.
“He hated doing commercials, but he loved getting the checks,” Kensinger recalled.
He defended his former boss in light of widely circulated commercial outtakes where Welles loses his cool.
“I know there is a some stuff out there on the internet where he does all this stuff and people are just like, ‘Oh my God, he’s so mean,'” Kensinger said. “I don’t think he intentionally means to be mean, he just gets impatient because people cant get it right. How hard is it to write copy for frozen peas?”
He added, “I think he got frustrated because he was so smart and he’s living in kind of a mediocre world.”
Kensinger, a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, left Welles’ employment in 1981 to write scripts for indie producer Roger Corman.
The 21-minute podcast is available on iTunes or can be downloaded or streamed at http://www.kcrw.com/news-culture/shows/the-organist/episode-51-orson-on-wonderland
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