The stars of the show were Jim Jordan and Marian Jordan, real-life husband and wife Vaudevillians who tried several radio personae before settling on the characters with which they became permanently identified. The show put a cheerful face on despairing circumstances, and the couple's home at "79 Wistful Vista" (itself a famous phrase of the day) seemed to exist in a kind of neverland where money was never coming in, was always the target of schemes, and yet no one ever really went wanting -- not the truth, but not far from the truth for many Americans of the day.