As a 6-year-old, Pat Brady used to go to church and sit on the kneeler, using the pew for a desk so that he could draw.
He remembers other churchgoers chuckling at his work; even the Catholic priest who presided over the service was amused by his drawings. The priest gave Brady the Italian nickname "Pasquale," because he reminded him of a character of the same name on the popular '40s radio show "Life with Luigi."
Later, Brady pinned the name on one of his cartoon characters — the son in "Rose is Rose," the popular comic strip seen daily in the Deseret Morning News.
Brady, now 56, is in his 20th year of syndication of the strip. His sixth book of cartoons, "Rose is Rose Right on the Lips" has just been published.
In an interview from his home near Chicago, Brady, who was born in Louisville, reminisced about his beginnings.
"My father brought home my first MAD Magazine when I was 5 or 6. I was thrilled with it, and both my parents encouraged my interest in cartooning. I was never told by anyone that cartooning was a bad thing to go into. I knew I wanted to be a published cartoonist, so I worked hard at it."
MAD Magazine cartoonist Jack Davis inspired him — and today Brady enjoys the work of many other cartoonists, such as Greg Evans' "LuAnn," Scott Adams' "Dilbert" and Vic Lee's "Pardon My Planet." He also considers the cartooning work done in animation studios to be "spectacular."
Brady sent his first submissions to MAD Magazine and "they sent me nice rejection notices. It was fun to submit and fun to get a letter back, even though I was rejected." According to Brady, syndicates get 3,000 submissions a year and only choose one or two to syndicate; of those chosen, only 10 percent last more than a year or two.
Brady calls himself "a self-taught cartoonist" who developed his craft steadily as he grew up, majoring in art (fine art, painting, sculpture, etc.) at the University of Wisconsin.
"The things I learned in fine-arts courses really helped me in cartooning. But there were no courses in cartooning. The things I learned in commercial art also helped. I worked for Montgomery Ward as a layout artist and learned how to economize on space. All of it came together in a nice way."
Brady's first attempt at a syndication came in 1980 with "Graves, Inc.," a "business-oriented strip with a tyrannical boss and sycophantic underlings. It peaked at 30 papers, then dwindled to 11 before the syndicate pulled the plug. It ran for three years.
"I would have kept doing it even if we had only one newspaper. But a year later, I had a contract to do 'Rose is Rose.' The first strip gave me excellent practice and training for deadlines."
"Rose is Rose" includes three continuing characters — Rose Gumbo, her husband, Jimbo, and their son, Pasquale, who has a guardian angel. Peekaboo is the family cat — and most interesting of all, Rose's alter-ego is Vicki the Biker Chick, a delightful identity her character frequently takes on — especially in difficult situations.
The idea for the strip came from Brady's fertile imagination. "I didn't know where it would lead. I've built the characters by having them interact. None are based on my real life, except I see my own childhood in Pasquale."
Being syndicated in 600 newspapers involves an awesome responsibility. "All my time is spent on 'Rose is Rose,' " said Brady. "I'd like to try writing sometime without illustrating or even illustrate without writing, but doing a syndicated comic strip with 365 deadlines a year requires all of my time. A typical day for me is to write and draw two daily strips — or to spend one day producing a Sunday strip. Often the Sunday strip takes two days. Then there is my ancillary work for promotion of the strip, work on books and merchandise designs for 'Rose is Rose.' I almost always work a six-day week."
Once in a while Brady has an experience that serves as fodder for a strip, but most of the time it is plain hard work.
"When I search for ideas, I take what I can get. I'm happy if the idea that emerges is more than just a gag. I'm happy if it is in some way redeeming, more than a slice of life. It seems that if it happens on its own, it's a bonus for me. But I don't have an agenda.
"I toy with doodles and ideas until it takes on some direction. A comic strip needs to be fun — maybe not always funny. I'm hoping 'Rose is Rose' is always fun. Outside of drawing the strip, I don't know if I have the quickest sense of humor, but I get by."
E-MAIL: dennis@desnews.com