[7] Some authors believe that King wrote the song The Fountain in the Park, credited to vaudevillian Ed Haley.
[8][9] In January 1903, King managed the Teachers' Department for Leo Feist Inc., one of Tin Pan Alley's music publishers.
[10] His first hit was ‘’Anona.’’[1] He collaborated musically with Ballard Macdonald, Billy Moll, Ted Fiorito, Howard Johnson, Gus Kahn,[11] and Charley Straight.
[12] In 1918, King as Mary Earl composed Beautiful Ohio with lyrics by Ballard Macdonald.
A chart topper during the year of its release, it sold more than five million copies for publisher Shapiro, Bernstein, & Company.