Hey Kindertrauma-
In the mid to late 70's there was a fire safety commercial warning about the hazards of falling asleep with a lit cigarette. It featured a woman holding a photo of herself over her face talking about the fire and how her husband died because of it. I think she says, " He was the lucky one". Afterward, she pulls the picture away from her face to show that she was disfigured and burned in the fire. I remember it being very shocking and unexpected. Does this (exist) anywhere? Does anyone else remember it?
Thanks!
UNK SEZ: Boy, does that sound familiar, Larry! Kindertrauma and fire safety commercials sure seem to go hand in hand! I surely recall THIS ONE HERE which seems to feature my very own Winnie-the-Pooh doll taking a suicidal leap into flames! Hey, all of this fire safety talk has me thinking of 1966's creep-tastic PICTURE MOMMY DEAD (REVIEW HERE)! I say let's grab some images from the ol' chestnut to decorate this post and then let's watch the extra crispy, well-done flick below!
Funny enough, the only fire safety commercials I remember were the Smokey the Bear and Dick Van Dyke's "Roll, Dick, Roll!" spot – not too high on the trauma scale.
Don't know your PSA but you might enjoy reading another's recollections of that PSA.
http://tinyurl.com/go32w3j
The Horror of It All: One Moviegoer’s Love Affair with Masked Maniacs …
By Adam Rockoff
Page 5
It was an antismoking public service announcement, and it's final image is forever seared into my memory.
The entire PSA was comprised of a single shot of a woman holding up a black-and-white- photograph in front of her face. The subject in the photo is attractive, or at least pleasant-looking in a fifties-housewife kind of way. She begins telling a story about how her husband fell asleep while smoking in bed, presumably with her in it. a fire ensured and her husband perished in the blaze. the entire time, the camera moves closer to the photograph until the woman says, "I guess you could say, I was the lucky one." She then lowers the photo. Holy f*cking sh*t. Suddenly the Elephant Man was Cary Grant. I had never seen anything so profoundly disturbing. The woman had been burned beyond recognition. Her face, or what was left of it was nothing more than a mass of meted flesh, strips of scar tissue crisscrossing each other at unnatural angles. Mercifully, the image was only on TV for a few seconds before cutting away to whatever Saturday morning cartoon followed. From then on, the moment I saw the first frame of that commercial, I would dive underneath the covers until I hear her final bitterly ironic line of dialogue. I guess you could say, I was the lucky one. For years, her voice was the soundtrack to a thousand nightmares. I have absolutely no idea who directed this PSA-probably just some journeyman who went on to make commercials hawking potato chips and antifungal cream-but some enterprising producer should find this dude and sign him up (although he's probably retired or dead by now). Just typing in various search terms, trying to find any information at all on this PSA, literally sends shivers up my spine. I"m not exaggerating, when I say it remains the most terrifying thirty seconds of video I have ever seen.
I hate PSAs featuring real disfigurement/medical conditions. I'm a gorehound, but that's not what I want! The most recent horrible ones are the anti-smoking ads. I have no inclination to smoke, so I don't need to see the hole in your throat or your swollen feet or your toothless mouth! And people who do smoke don't give a flying rat's butt about "someone else".
I am curious to see this burned lady, though. It sounds super creepy. As long as I'm prepared for it and not watching a comedy or eating dinner or something, I'm sure I can handle it. Sounds creepy as f*, though.