Okay, let me repeat what EVERYONE is saying…I love this site!
Anyhow, this is a long shot and if anyone can come up with this I will personally award SOMETHING whether material or online…because I have searched myself into oblivion…this has bothered me since I was about 9 or 10 years old and I am now 36…PLEASE!
I believe it was an HBO Short Take…around the early ‘80s (of course)….anyhow, it is a short cartoon about this little kid who is in a room. On the other side of the room is this doorknob that sparkles at him…taunting him to open it…but every time the kid tries, the door is locked. Next thing you know, he's a teen, the doorknob sparkles and teases him, but he still can't open it. Finally, he grows into an old man who is now literally INSANE because of this door…he can't open it but it keeps sparkling and taunting him to open it…the old man beats and screams psychotically at the door until finally he starts to keel over from either old age or a heart attack…and right when he is about to die, the door creeks open, and the man's eyes grow big as if saying "YES! FINALLY!"…but he dies.
All of a sudden, the door sloooowly swings open and it's an old fashioned in-door ironing board that unfolds and flops open.
Sounds lame, I know, but when you are about 10 years old and this psycho is freaking out, screaming, it sticks with you. I was scared for sooooo long…someone? Anyone? HELP…I need to conquer this! Thanks…
UPDATE: Name That Trauma SOLVED! Special thanks to Reader Tychoanomaly for unlocking the mystery of ROOM & BOARD:
It's "Room and Board". It was included in Fantastic Animation Festival (1975). See it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2C2Q3pMLg3w
Someone needs to put Fantastic Animation Festival on DVD someday.