The House in the Middle (1954)

[kentauros]

Produced by The National Clean Up-Paint Up-Fix Up Bureau

http://www.archive.org/details/Houseint1954

Atomic tests at the Nevada Proving Grounds (later the Nevada Test Site) show effects on well-kept homes, homes filled with trash and combustibles, and homes painted with reflective white paint. Asserts that cleanliness is an essential part of civil defense preparedness and that it increased survivability.

:rofl:

[Jamastiene]

1. Ah, yes, look at all the lovely clean homes...

with no one home and the shape of human skeletons flash burned into the walls. Gee, wonder where all the people went? Hope they had clean underwear.

:rofl:

[kentauros]

2. There was a comic-book version of Ray Bradbury's short story

"There Will Come Soft Rains" that depicted the silhouettes of the family burned into the back side of the house, while their automatic machines kept tending things as if nothing was amiss.

Here's a Soviet re-interpretation of that story in animation form:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKJ77w6uQCg

Still very creepy, and no Soviet overtones I can see.

[Whoa_Nelly]

3. Wonder how those guys who came in after the test were affected

Picking things up, touching surfaces, being in the radiation area...

[kentauros]

4. I'm sure most were affected in some manner later.

You have to wonder, too, if the government at the time was also using them as test subjects for longterm exposure or to study how they did way down the line after initial exposure like that.

[hedgehog]

5. There was a fire in a vault that stored a lot of veteran's records some years back.

(St. Louis, mid 70's?) Seems to me that oddly enough, most of the exposure records for the atomic veterans happened to be in that vault.

[kentauros]

8. I didn't know that.

Hmm, mid-70s? Nixon-era? ;)

[hedgehog]

10. How'd you guess? The fire hit about the same time as leukemias

and other cancers did.....


http://www.archives.gov/st-louis/military-personnel/fire-1973.html

[LeftyMom]

6. And thus the Red Menace was defeated by five gallons of Dutch Boy, and Democracy was saved!

:patriot:

[kentauros]

7. Good catch!

:rofl:

[FloridaJudy]

9. Produced by:

"National Paint, Varnish and Lacquer Association". I'm sure a coat of nice shiny paint will protect you from the blast! :rofl:

[hedgehog]

11. well, they used LEAD paint back then!

Seriously, I think that the theory was that fire storms were more of a hazard than the radiation. It is a fascinating film. I never realized that covering the sofa in plastic was a safety feature! So was planting flowers, apparently. Note the implication that houses and neighborhoods are run down because the occupants are lazy and dirty. Apparently cost was not a consideration.

[FloridaJudy]

12. And notice how the house with paper

In it goes up in flames? Get rid of those books! They'll kill ya if the Commies drop the bomb!

I'm doomed. DOOMED.