The series revolved around two main characters, Al Short and George Tracy (A and G) who owned an A-G store in the fictional Maple Grove. Al was played by Gomer Cool and George by Paul Henning, the show’s writer. Henning would eventually go on to write at the network level make his name in television as the creator of The Beverly Hillbillies. Cool related that Al and George “greet the customers – sell them the various A-G specials just as any grocer would do.” Utilizing their singing talents, Cool and Henning would “sing praises of their A-G store and its products.” The duo parodied popular tunes of the day, rewriting lyrics to focus on Associated Grocers products and sales.

            Al and George were joined by Olaf, the meat cutter’s assistant. Paul Sells, simultaneously a member of KMBC’s Texas Rangers and later musician for Gene Autry, voiced the Swede and pitched in with some accordian music, even adding his baritone on occasion. Stock boy Elmer Jones, the slow but loveable town inventor, was played by Herb Kratoska (also concurrently a member of the musical Texas Rangers) who added guitar when required. The final core character as Flash, a Black delivery boy who provided comic relief. Portrayed by Eddie Edwards, Flash was one of several Black characters Edwards played on different KMBC series, among them “Cookie” on Life on Red Horse Ranch, “George Washington White” on Happy Hollow, and “Sam” on Joanne Taylor’s Fashion Flashes.

            Other KMBC actors passed through Maple Grove playing various customers, among them Mrs. Straightlace, “the town reformer,” Mrs. Gabriel (Gabby), who never stopped talking, and Mr. Gardiner, a newlywed, Grandma Perkins, Freddy Finch, Dr. Ford, Mrs. Murphy, Mr. Weston, and Miss O’Neil.

            Henning daily wrote specific goods into the script that A.G. Stores would then have on specials that same day. These same goods were advertised in the daily newspapers as well. Given the unfortunate lack of surviving scripts, modern fans can only surmise how goods such as Derby Chili, Lakeside Vegetables, and Aines California Cottage Cheese were deftly woven into the “fast moving, jolly” storyline which supposedly carried “a thread of human interest from day to day.”

            Despite the future success of so many of its cast, Musical Grocers wasn’t the sales driver for which A.G. Stores hoped and the series said “Auf Weidersehen” on July 11, 1934. There is no indication in extant KMBC records that they attempted to revive the series with a different sponsor.