tenth birthday, Murry hosted a children's party that converted the family home into a jungle gym for Dennis and his friends to play in. One of Dennis's classmates, Don Allen, remembered Murry as "being outgoing, friendly, jovial, enthusiastic, and quite in the spirit of being a ten-year-old boy." Wilson's nephew Mike Love said that his uncle often applied a "Vulcan nerve pinch" to boys in the neighborhood. "He never truly hurt anyone, but he inspired plenty of fear." Early songwriting career and the Beach Boys By 1950, Murry had written several songs. In 1952, he befriended songwriters Hite and Dorinda Morgan, a married couple who jointly operated Guild Music Company, their music publishing firm. Late in the year, Hite offered to publish two of Wilson's songs, the dance number "Two Step, Side Step" and the ballad "I'll Hide My Tears", and have them recorded with help from Hite's connections in the Los Angeles music industry. In exchange for signing with the Morgans, Murry received $50 as an advance on future royalties the songs may yield. In early 1953, the couple arranged to have "Two Side, Side Step" recorded by Palace Records act the Bachelors. To promote the forthcoming record, member Jimmie Haskell arranged to have the song performed by the Lawrence Welk Orchestra on Welk's nationally-broadcast On the Air from the Aragon radio show in May 1953. Also arranged by Hite, renditions of Wilson's "Painting with Teardrops (of Blue)" and "Two Step, Side Step" were recorded by country singer Johnny Hall and released as a single on the Recorded in Hollywood label. In 1954, "I'll Hide My Tears" was recorded by the Jets (a reconfiguration of the Hollywood Flames), and "Two Step, Side Step" was recorded by early rock 'n' roll singer Bonnie Lou. Billboard reviewed Lou's rendition as a "cute bouncy tune" that would likely become a popular jukebox pick. After the Beach Boys' formation, Murry became the group's business manager, co-producer, and publisher in the early part of their career. Murry was a tough negotiator on the band's behalf, organizing a contract signing with Capitol Records. Around June 1962, Murry and Brian established the music publishing company Sea of Tunes to safeguard Brian's compositions. The Beach Boys' first few records credited Capitol A&R director Nick Venet as producer. After April 1963, Capitol allowed Brian to produce their records himself, following Murry's insistence. Murry also introduced Brian to Roger