Ronald Reagan and James Dean in “The Dark, Dark Hours”

“The Dark, Dark Hours” was first broadcast live from Hollywood on December 12, 1954 from the General Electric Theater series. It features both Ronald Reagan and James Dean before either of them were huge names in Hollywood.

John Meroney of the Atlantic describes how the footage was found:

“No one has seen this episode in the decades since; the kinescope has been locked away, until now. My friend Wayne Federman, a writer for NBC’s Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, unearthed the broadcast, condensing it from its original 23 minutes (without commercials) into the six-minute version you see [here].”