Goldmine: How did you discover the Vanilla Fudge?

"Shadow" Morton: Well, let me make this clear, I did not discover the Vanilla Fudge. When I found them, they were called the Pidgeons. Yeah, I didn't like that name at all. I found the Vanilla Fudge when I was again quitting the industry...Two people were approaching me on the group; one was my old buddy, Ric Mango, the other was Shelley Finkel, he did the most for the Rascals...Shelley kept calling when I had my office at 1841 Broadway. (I was right above Atlantic. I was on the eleventh floor, Bob Crewe was on the sixth and all of Atlantic was on the third. I was where the party was...) I told him, "No. I'm quitting. I'm leaving!" He was wise enough to ignore that because I had said it so many times.

He met me on 57th Street, pulled up in a limousine, and persuaded me to get in. There was a bottle of Bacardi in there so I was persuaded...Took me to a place called The Action House on Long Beach Road and that's when I heard the Pidgeons perform. They were actually doing things like "Twist And Shout", a whole bunch of Chuck Berry, old rock 'n' roll shit. As I remember it, Shelley was gung-ho over the group because they had talent, they really didn't have a direction. And they did have talent...the bass player--unbelievable, unbelievable...I'd never seen a bass man with moves like that, I'd never seen a organist like that. What Carmine was doing on the drums was...But in a retirement mood, I wasn't about to take on anything. As I walked out of The Action House, Mark Stein began to play and I stopped. I stopped at the door. I was out the door and I turned around to listen to Mark Stein. I was mesmerized. Shelley was talking to Phil Basile, who owned the place and I don't know how it came to be, but he was their manager. As a matter of fact, Philly didn't know what he had...even up until the day the album came out. Even after the album came out, he didn't know. He was still taking the Fudge and booking them into The Action House as a drawing card for groups he thought were gonna be big--and who never made it.

Goldmine: So why did you stop at the door?

"Shadow" Morton: Ahhh...you know, when Mark played that organ on "You Keep Me Hangin' On", it impressed the hell out of me. I don't remember whether he told me or if I came to the conclusion myself, but the reason he played it that way...you know, slow and soulful...was that was the way he had been listening to the Supremes doing "You Keep Me Hangin' On"--on a 45 record going at 33--to learn the song! I was so taken by the feeling of that, he was just so into it...I turned around at the door and I walked back into the room.