Before the sun ever pokes its head out to reveal the first glimpse of morning, Al Scaduto is awake in his home studio drawing at 4 a.m. "That's when I like to work the most," the Jericho resident of 41 years explained. And so he does, sketching quirky characters for his long-running and acclaimed cartoon They'll Do It Every Time, a newspaper comic that's been around even longer than Scaduto has inhabited Jericho.

Perhaps this early bird start to his day allows the Bronx native the clear perspective needed to picture human nature in all its intricacies, and the human personality in all of its oddities. After all, it's his ability to create and draw unique characters that parody society's behavior which has earned him a nomination for a Reuben Award - the cartoonist's equivalent to an Oscar - for best newspaper cartoon strip.

"It's very nice to be honored by your peers," said Scaduto, who has twice before garnered the prestigious award ¬ named after the famous artist Rube Goldberg ¬ for They'll Do It Every Time, in 1968 and 1979. But, he added, it would be even nicer if the National Cartoonists Society passed him up for the honor this year, and awarded it to a first-timer.

Scaduto, though he would treasure another honor, needs no such recognition of his talent or creativity. The longevity of his cartoon panel, which Scaduto began working on in 1949 after artist Jimmy Hatlo had originated it in 1928, is proof enough of his success. Only now may the cartoon finally be near its demise as Scaduto contemplates a retirement that would still allow him to draw, but not under daily pressure. When he does hang it up, the entertained readers of newspapers, across the nation, and the world, will miss the unique insights into people that Scaduto offered.

The artist explained that in order to properly capture a character's behavior in a single framed, two-dimensional drawing, the cartoonist must, ironically, think of his characters as three-dimensional, with a history and personality that can be portrayed through images.

"This is not a cartoon that has jokes," remarked Scaduto. "It's a satire on human behavior. It would have something like a drawing of a shoemaker with holes in his shoes," he continued.

"When you read it, you recognize it. 'Gee, that's happened to me,' and 'I've seen that happen.'"

The accuracy of his illustrated ironies are occasionally confirmed when strolling through the store, or office building. "I've found my comic cut out and posted on the wall, where somebody writes in, next to the character, the name of somebody who works in the store."

Though Scaduto writes much of his material, he encourages readers to send in their own ideas for a panel, and often uses them. Certainly the rare opportunity to create a cartoon strip premise for print has remained a factor that has boosted the cartoon's popularity over the decades. Scaduto then credits the author of the submission in his rendering.

When Hatlo died in 1949, Scaduto, a recent graduate hired by Kings Features Syndicate, was assigned to work alongside the legendary Bob Dunn in taking over the comic. Dunn would write the gag, and Scaduto would draw the strip for the Sunday papers, although he also wrote some of the jokes. Scaduto became solely responsible for content and art several years later after Dunn passed away.

Although the comic has stayed with the times, Scaduto still calls the strip "old fashioned" in style. Most comics these days, said Scaduto, have adopted an adult version of "child-like drawings," where people are drawn less artistically and more as charicatures.

Scaduto's experience started at a very young age as he observed his father draw. "I knew that I wanted to be an artist by the age of 5," he said. "During the depression, my dad used to sit down and draw pictures of Italy." In the late 1940s Scaduto graduated from the School of Industrial Art in Manhattan, where he won its coveted Cartoon Award.

After several decades working with Hatlo and Dunn, Scaduto drew the Li'l Iodine comic book series, "a sort of precursor to Dennis the Menace," Scaduto explained, for 17 years while still working on his strip.

Scaduto also wrote and illustrated material for the loony, satiric Cracked magazine as well as illustrated children's books.

His other major achievement, of course, has been his family ¬ his wife, Joyce; his two daughters, Patricia Violette and Deborah White (Notice the colors in their married names. Was this fate for the artist's daughters?); and his three grandchildren, Allison, Atticus and Lazarus.

They'll Do It Every Time appeared as a regular feature in New York's Journal American before it went defunct. Currently the strip remains especially prominent in Washington, Florida, Tennessee, and parts of New Jersey and Connecticut.

The Reuben Awards will be held in Pasadena, California on April 25.