William "Bill" John Brady was born on February 14, 1905 in Tomkins Cove, New York. His father was born in Ireland and his mother was born in New York.
Tomkins Cove is a small port town along the Hudson River, north of the Bronx near Bear Mountain, and home to the impressive Mothball Fleet. The area is naturally rich in limestone, which was processed at a massive industrial lime works, where most of the towns folk were employed to produce this essential ingredient in concrete.
In 1909 a four-year-old orphan from Tomkins Cove, named "William John Brady," was placed at the St. Agnes Home For boys in nearby Sparkill, NY. He remained as a resident of the institution for fifteen years. The home maintained a constant population of five hundred boys, who were raised and trained by nuns from the affiliated convent.
In 1919 after having completed the ninth grade of vocational high school he entered the work force, but he continued to live as a resident at St. Agnes Home For Boys.
From an early age he displayed a natural talent for drawing, and by 1920 he was interested in a career as a commercial artist.
In 1925, at the age of twenty, he left the Home For Boys and moved to New York City to seek his fortune. He studied at the Art Students League at 215 West 57th Street. He lived two blocks West of the school in a boarding house at 415 West 57th Street.
After two years he began to attend the National Academy of Design at West 109th Street and Amsterdam Avenue. His art teachers were George Nelson (1887-1978), Charles Hinton (1869-1950), Charles Curran (1861-1942), and Leon Kroll (1884-1974). To live conveniently near the school, he moved to a boarding house at 140 West 109th Street.
Although the tuition at the National Academy of Design was over four hundred dollars a semester, which was higher than most schools, William J. Brady received scholarships and was awarded prizes which helped to cover his costs. This generous sponsorship reflected both the merit of his artistic talent, as well as the hardship of his poverty.
On April 29, 1931 the Brooklyn Eagle newspaper reported that "William J. Brady received the Class Prize for Drawings of Antiquities at the 106th Annual Commencement of the Art Schools of the National Academy of Design."
According to the archives at the National Academy of Design, in 1931 he received the Silver Medal in Etching. In 1932 he received the Curran Scholarship. In 1934 he received the school prize in still-life painting. William J. Brady remained at the National Academy of Design for seven years.
In 1935 he was listed in Mallet's Directory of Artists as working and living New York City.
On September 15, 1935 he married Florence Karin Henderson in Manhattan Civil Court. She was born in 1910 in Sweden and had completed her freshman year of college training to become a nurse technician. They lived at 40 West 106th Street.
In April of 1936 he completed his final course at the National Academy of Design.
In 1940 the U.S. Census listed Mr. & Mrs. Brady at 40 West 106th Street. His occupation was listed as "etcher."
According to comic book historian Hames Ware, William Brady drew "The White Rider and Super Horse" for Blue Bolt Comics from Novelty Press. "The White Rider" is not to be confused with "The Phantom Rider," which was drawn by Peter Alvarado (1920-2003) under the pen names "A. L. Petersen" and "Al Anders" from 1938 to 1940 for Star Comics, which was produced by Lloyd Jacquet's Funnies Incorporated.
In 1942 William Brady illustrated the children's book, "Willie Whistle" by John Messmann.
In 1943 he drew comics for Dell Publications under the editorial supervision of Oskar Lebeck (1903-1966).
In 1944 William J. Brady illustrated the children's book "The Merry Adventures of Till Eulenspiegel" by Thomas Yoseloff.
By 1953 the comic books industry experienced hard times resulting from self-censorship under the Code of Decency, which forced many artists to look for other sources of income. William J. Brady began to work in New York City as a commercial artist in advertising.
In 1954 he moved to 15-17 Plaza Road North in Fair Lawn, New Jersey, where the telephone directory listed him as a "commercial artist" working in NYC. These listings continued until 1960.
In 1961 William Brady illustrated the children's book "The Old Aztec Story Teller" by J. A. Rickard.
William J. Brady died at the age of seventy-three in New York State in 1978.
© David Saunders 2013 |
