House of Horrors (partially found hemophilia awareness PSA; early 1970s)

Status: Partially Found

House of Horrors (also often called House of the Hemophiliac erroneously) is a 1970 public service announcement produced by Della Femina, Travisano & Partners, Inc. for the National Hemophilia Foundation. Part of a 3-PSA series, this PSA is alleged to cover the dangers a hemophiliac faces in their own home from common objects. Recollections include elements such as a "scary voiceover", "twisted camera shots" of items like scissors and a scratching cat, and "demonic child-like laughter".

House of Horrors is one of 3 PSAs in a series; of the three, only one is available, named The Clotting Factor; the other, I'm a Hemophiliac, is lost. These PSAs were aired in the New York market during the early 1970s, and were a part of 1974 Congressional hearings concerning the 1973 Hemophilia Act. Included in the documentation of the hearings is the full transcript of House of Horrors, dated December 14, 1970, as detailed on page 34. This documentation also states that the PSA is 60 seconds long.

Information about this PSA is attested in multiple places, including both modern Internet sources and period news reports. The Internet sources recalling this PSA include two New York-area TV nostalgia blogs . A poster on the Internet Archive inquires about it, and users of The Classic Horror Film Board mention it in a thread on 1970's commercials and PSAs. More detailed but conflicting information can be found at the Public Information Film Wiki, which also mentions that it aired in the Chicago area.

One comment on the New York TV Movie Memories blog mentions that it may be connected to McDonald & Associates Television Commercials. However, while a listing of their PSAs mentions two PSAs for hemophilia awareness, House of Horrors is not one of them.

Official mentions of this PSA are surprisingly numerous. A PDF of the World Bank's Brazil: The Organization, Delivery, and Financing of Health Care in Brqzil: Agenda for the 90s mentions it on PDF page 152, under section 7.54, as a consumer group linked to a specific disease problem. A 1971 New York Times article mentions the campaign as having won an award in April of that year. Page 42 of this World Radio History PDF from 1973 mention that head of Della Femina, Travisano & Partners, Inc, Jerry Della Femina, held the hemophilia PSAs as some of the work he was proudest of. A second World Radio History PDF, also on page 42, mentions production equipment used for the audio of the PSAs.

Despite these reports from Internet users and the wide attestation in contemporary media reports, this PSA remains lost.