Goodbye, dirty neighbors

That cluttered and tacky fixer-upper of yours was a matter of National Security and Civil Defense back in 1954, when "The National Clean Up-Fix Up-Paint Up Bureau" figured out (through numerous experimental nuclear explosions) that nukes aren't nearly as big a problem if you just clean up a little.

It could have been a real Bureau, or even if it was made up, its existence was part of the bigger lie delivered by the Federal Civil Defense Administration. Not surprisingly, this little gem of a Public Service film was sponsored by the National Paint, Varnish and Lacquer Association (I think it's likely that the "bureau" was a film production company that was a branch of the paint/varnish/lacquer group, and allowed to masquerade as a government entity. How's that for some varnish?). And here you thought that corporations heavily influencing the government's actions was a much more recent trend.

Search google.

Found via flick filosopher.