Posted by the Journal of American Veterinary Medical Association on April 13, 2016
As with veterinary medicine, Dr. Jim Murphy approached a new venture in his life, chronicling the early days of one of America’s enduring bands, as both an art and a science.
The lifelong fan wrote “Becoming the Beach Boys, 1961-1963” because other books gave conflicting facts and short shrift to the band’s early days. He also created a companion website.
Dr. Jim Murphy autographs copies of his book.
Dr. Murphy spent eight years researching, doing interviews, and writing his book, weathering rejections until it was published in summer 2015, three days after a new movie about the band was released and a month before the group headlined at the AVMA Annual Convention in Boston.
“It is an academic look at the band’s origin and not always a light read for a day at the beach,” he says of the 436-page book with its 12 appendices, 1,100 end notes, bibliography, and index. Fifty of the photos had never before been published, except some in yearbooks. His scientific approach also drew on his right brain. As an undergrad, he had minored in creative writing, enjoying the precision. “Writing the book and using the less- scientific part of my brain was my own form of a wellness program,” he says.
The companion animal veterinarian at Capitol Hill Animal Clinic in Washington, D.C., was 40 when he graduated from the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine in 1997. Earlier, he was a speechwriter for the postmaster general. At 50, he starred in his first community theater production. He has appeared in three feature-length indie film comedies.
link to Journal of American Veterinary Medical Association article
May 1, 2016 edition
Becoming the Beach Boys - a reader's companion to the book 
Hi Jim,
I have in the past few months managed to get hold of your book here in the UK, I must say I am revelling in all the detail, your research is spectacular. As you said in the book this period of the Beach Boys history seems to have been cut and pasted from biog to biog without any real authentication behind it. The time you have spent making sure the facts are correct and the accuracy of every piece of detail is undisputable I find completely admirable. One of the things that jumped out at me was that you thought that floor plans of of various building was important, I do so agree with that, understanding the physical space that events occur adds so much to the story.
This makes me wonder about 3701 West 119th Street, I’d like to understand how that household worked and what happened to it. In the Genesis book a picture of the Wilson boys playing shows a rather scruffy house, whereas a later picture with Carl on a bike it look a much smarter building, timber cladding, decorative roof edge details. The garage got converted into a music room, the boys shared a bedroom. The are many snippets of detail but nowhere does it all come together.
I have a number of thoughts that if you felt so inclined I’d like to chat about, let me know if you still have a thirst for detail and investigation.
Nick Guy 29th May 2024
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Hi Nick,
Thank you for your support and kind words for the book. I’m glad you enjoyed it. The best reward for writing the book is hearing from Beach Boys enthusiasts such as yourself! I got a kick out of reading about your interest in understanding the physical space within which certain events took place. That was my interest as well. I wanted to better understand the layout of Hite and Dorinda Morgan’s home studio and the physical space in which the guys rehearsed and recorded their first demos. Bruce Morgan provided a rough sketch of the home and Al Dix (one of the four Dix brothers who started CANDIX Enterprises, Inc.,) was a professional draftsmen and volunteered to render the drawing of the Morgan home as well as the CANDIX office space. I hoped the architectural drawings would bring a little added value to the book and our collective understanding of the band’s early history. Here’s a funny story for you. I was well into writing the book and on probably my eighth or ninth interview with Bruce Morgan when he very casually mentioned his mother Dorinda had written a song for Dennis shortly after his death in December 1983. Bruce asked if I was interested in having a copy of the song’s lyrics. Would I?! Why, yes, of course! I was really quite happy to reprint the lyrics in one of the appendices. It seemed such a fitting tribute from the woman who helped launch their career to the brother whose idea that someone should write a song about surfing sparked Brian and Mike to pen “Surfin,” with, I might add, uncredited lyrical input from Dennis. I would have liked to have included a floor plan of the Wilson home, but even getting a photograph of the exterior that was reliably the actual house, was a bit challenging and, in the end, I decided not to go that route. I have always been intrigued by what I call the WALL of MEMORABILIA in the Wilson home seen in the classic photo of the guys admiring their early output of 45s and sheet music. Interestingly, I have some ideas about the floor plan of 3701 W. 119th Street, too. I would very much like to hear your ideas. May I suggest you write me at bbb.jmurphy@gmail.com and we can continue the conversation.
Thanks again, Nick, for taking the time to reach out and I look forward to hearing from you.
All the best,
Jim
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Hi Jim,
I’m impressed with Al Dix’s drafting skills, you can’t beat hand draw plans.
Regarding the WALL OF MEMORABILIA I have an idea where that might be, I have emailed you some sketches, let me know what you think.
Best regards
Nick
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