A glass shatters, a pistol shoots, a policeman blows his whistle, a woman screams, and a car drives off at breakneck speed. It's the beginning of The Dark, Dark Hours (1954), which aired live on CBS on December 12, 1954. It was the twelfth episode of the third season of the General Electric Theater. Directed by Don Medford, with a screenplay by Arthur Steuer from an original story by Henry Kane, it starred James Dean, Ronald Reagan, Constance Ford, and Jack Simmons. Dean plays Bud, a teenaged hipster criminal, who spouts dialog like "Crazy, man" and "square," snaps his fingers, and dances around to bee-bop music. When his friend, PeeWee (Simmons) is shot, Bud takes him to a doctor (Reagan) and his wife (Ford), who he menaces with a gun while they try to save his dying friend.

The Dark, Dark Hours was produced for MCA-TV/Revue Productions, who brought Wagon Train, Mike Hammer and Lux Playhouse to television, and was filmed at Republic Studios on Radford Avenue in North Hollywood. Ronald Reagan's acting career had begun in Hollywood with hits like Kings Row (1942) and Knute Rockne, All-American (1940), but by the 1950s, his career, like many of his contemporaries, was winding down. His agents suggested that he get into television. Reagan was hesitant, but he began hosting the anthology program on September 26, 1954 and the show's Nielsen ratings went up ten points over the 1954-55 season. Eight years later, General Electric would fire him because of his controversial remarks regarding the debt caused by the Tennessee Valley Authority flood control project, which also served as an electricity generator. However, as a co-owner of The General Electric Theater, he would leave the show a very wealthy man.

Reagan introduced the program as starring "Young James Dean, one of the bright new actors in Hollywood," and it was no exaggeration. James Dean's star was on its brief ascendant. He had finished filming East of Eden (1955) when he worked on The Dark, Dark Hours, and although it wasn't yet in release, word of his performance was getting around town, and his future seemed bright that December of 1954.

By Lorraine LoBianco

SOURCES:

http://ejones23.tripod.com/Filmography.html
The Internet Movie Database
Meroney, John "Ronald Reagan and James Dean: Rare Video From 1954" The Atlantic 20 Apr 2010