As the golden days of radio wound down, slowly replaced by a newfangled gadget called television, there were many performers who suddenly found themselves ill-equipped for a career in front of the cameras. But one particular radio star quickly proved that he could be just as funny, perhaps even funnier, now that audiences could get a glimpse of his deadpan expressions. When The Jack Benny Show decided to make the transition from radio to television, Jack rounded up almost everyone from the radio program and brought them along for the ride. The result was one of the most beloved shows to emerge in the 50s.

Debuting in October of 1950, The Jack Benny Show didn’t start out as a weekly show. In the first two years, the show ran infrequently, then ran every fourth week for the next two years. It gradually ran more frequently but didn’t go weekly until it had been on the air for 10 years. Part of the reason was that Benny decided to keep his radio show going simultaneously, always a bit skeptical, at least in the early years, of the allure of television.

Of course, his fears were unfounded. Television audiences quickly warmed to the comedian that had been one of the biggest stars of radio. From the broken down clunker of a car he drove, to his over-inflated ego, which included the insistence that he was 39 years old, year after year, to his miserly ways, audiences loved just about everything about Jack Benny. They also loved the cast of accompanying and colorful characters that included announcer Don Wilson, his wife Mary Livingstone, the gravely-throated valet named Rochester, not-so-bright singer Dennis Day, perpetually-rude Frank Nelson and finally, the unluckiest man in the world, Jack’s poor violin teacher, Professor LeBlanc, played by none other than the man-of-a-thousand-voices, Mel Blanc. (Mel also provided the sounds for Jack’s aging automobile, the Maxwell.)

Shows only occasionally featured guests, but when they did, it was usually someone special, such as Humphrey Bogart, Marilyn Monroe, Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby or Orson Wells. Most of the airtime, however, was reserved for classic Jack Benny comedy, such as his infamous arguments with his announcer, being tormented by Frank or a trip down to his own personal money vault. And through it all, his impeccable sense of comedic timing and surprised looks of disbelief generally had audiences wiping tears of laughter from their cheeks.

After 15 years of broadcasting The Jack Benny Show, not to mention more than 30 years on the radio, Benny chose to walk away from the spotlight, reserving his time for an occasional guest appearance on a television show or even a cameo in a movie, such as It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. His final television appearance was on the tenth anniversary of The Tonight Show in 1972 and he passed away a mere two years later. But he left a comic legacy that is without question, a veritable master class in comedic timing, and a career that will be remembered through the ages.