CORN COB PIPE VO – TV Editing Exercise
Write and edit a 25-35 second TV VO using the scriptwriting techniques we've used in iNews and Avid for the editing. Assume the story will run on a KOMU-TV 6pm newscast. Use a good establishing shot and sequences. Download the file from Avid.
You will read the finished story as we watch your story at the beginning of lab. Based on your video, you may decide some information in this story is more important than other information.
Story Notes: First corn cob pipe factory in the US. Other companies, Bischer Pipes and Hirschal and Bendhiem corn cob pipe company all went out of business, leaving Missouri Meerschaum (meer-schom) Company the only corn cob pipe manufacturer in the world.
In 1869 Henry Tibbe (Tib-be), a Dutch immigrant woodworker, first began production of the corn cob pipe. Legend has it that a local farmer whittled a pipe out of corn cob and liked it so much he asked Henry Tibbe to try turning some on his lathe. The farmer was well-pleased with his pipes so Henry made a few more and put them for sale in his shop. They proved to be such a fast selling item that soon Tibbe spent more time making pipes for his customers than working with wood. Soon Tibbe went into full time production of corn cob pipes. In 1917, the H. Tibbe & Son Co. became the Missouri Meerschaum Company.
They sold the plant to Carl Otto. He and his sons, Steve and Eddie, ran the company for many years (from 1912 to 1978) They sold it to an Indian company. Ed Murphy is the current plant manager. Today, it’s owned by Michael Lechtenberg, Robert Moore and Larry Horton.. bought in 1988. None live in town, they bought it as a business investment.
The word Meerschaum is taken from a German word that means "sea foam". It is a Turkish clay used in high grade pipes. Tibbe likened his light, porous pipes and their cool smoke to that of the more expensive meerschaum pipes and coined the name "Missouri Meerschaum" for his pipes.
Meerschaum is a Turkish clay used in high-grade pipes . Worker first coat the cobs with Xylonite, a resin made from pine trees before the clay is added. The pipes are then fired and hardened.
In its heyday the company produced 10,000,000 pipes a year. Today, it produces 1/10 that volume. 1 million.
Missouri Meerschaum has survived some hard times. The Anti-smoking hysteria of the late 80’s and tough luck with the 1993 floods when most of the corn crop was destroyed. Under normal conditions the plant gets its cobs from 300 acres of hybrid corn grown near the plant but now it’s planted an additional 80 acres in Florida for insurance.
12 different styles of pipes are produced in addition to the Meerschaum and a few wooden pipes made. Some pipes are shaped with a lathe, others are used in their natural shape.
The biggest change in styles is that the pipes have gotten smaller because the cobs have gotten smaller.
Tibbe and a chemist friend devised an innovative system of applying a plaster-based substance to the outside of the corn cob bowls. In 1878, Tibbe patented this process.
A nationwide distribution system was established for the sale of his pipes. Other pipe firms also developed; by 1925 there were as many as a dozen corn cob pipe companies in Franklin County, most of them in Washington. Today, Missouri Meerschaum stands alone as the first and only surviving piece of the living history. These gentle pipes are smoked and loved all over the world as well as being used as souvenirs, often imprinted with the name of the city, business or event.