Irregularly scheduled on NBC from 1954 through 1957, Producers' Showcase was a series of lavish, full-color 90 minute specials, bringing the best of Broadway to the 21 inch screen. On September 11, 1955, the series expanded to two hours to offer an elaborate "life from Hollywood" staging of Thornton Wilder's surrealistic comedy The Skin of Our Teeth. Though the action ostensibly takes place in New Jersey--first the city of Excelsior, then on the boardwalk of Atlantic City--the episodic plotline girdles the entire history of the world, with Mankind represented by the "ubermensch" Antrobus family. Surviving the Creation, the Ice Age, the seven deadly plagues, the Black Death and every other historical calamity, the unflappable and always fastidiously dressed George Antrobus (a rare acting performance by legendary Broadway director George Abbott) and his even-tempered wife (Helen Hayes) personify every man and woman who has weathered the most harrowing of storms "by the skin of their teeth." Acting as a combination Greek Chorus and Protean Player is the Antrobus' sexually uninhibited maid Sabina (Mary Martin, in a role created on Broadway by Tallulah Bankhead), whose duties range from wrangling baby mastodons to periodically replenishing the human race. Featured in the cast as Gladys is Heller Halliday, the daughter of costar Mary Martin. This lively adaptation of Wilder's Pulitzer Prize-winning play was originally staged in Paris as part of the American National Theater Academy's Salute to France program. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
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