1954 film claims a well-kept house could survive a nuclear attack

Is good housekeeping important for civil defense ? It is consort to this 1954 film , produce by with the cooperation of the Federal Civil Defense Administration , which claims that a white , nicely paint house is more likely to survive a nuclear flack than its dirty , run - down neighbors .

The House in the Middle uses footage from the Nevada Proving Grounds to make its stop , with commonsense guidelines about combustible trash being more , well , combustible , on top of its assurance about the overwhelming importance of theater paint — to keep your house suffer while you ’re being incinerate . Evidently , we were all supposed to do our civic responsibility and keep our houses covered in fresh blusher as some sort of talisman against nuclear disintegration . Forget fireworks ; let us North Americans lionise Canada Day weekend and Independence Day by cleaning and paint our habitation .

It was produced by the National Paint , Varnish and Lacquer Association ( no surprisal there ) and buy at by the National Clean Up - Paint Up - Fix Up Bureau with the cooperation of the Federal Civil Defense Administration . This celluloid was selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “ culturally , historically , or esthetically significant . ”