Gladys Knight & the Pips and the guys were like my own children!" The group was a touring standout during this period with Knight's contralto lead vocals and the Pips' impeccable choreography and characteristic background vocals becoming highlights. By the end of 1965, Berry Gordy was scouting to get the group signed to his fabled Motown Records label. Though the three Pips wanted to sign with the label, Gladys Knight initially refused, due to her fears that the label would overlook them over the more popular artists on his roster. They would sign with Motown in 1966, being assigned to Motown's Soul Records label, a
The Five Orange Pips ship's sternpost marked "LS" sighted in the North Atlantic. The 1945 film "Sherlock Holmes and the House of Fear" is partly based on "The Five Orange Pips". "The Five Orange Pips" was dramatised for BBC Radio 4 in 1990 as part of Bert Coules' complete radio adaptation of the canon, starring Clive Merrison as Holmes and Michael Williams as Watson. The November 2014 episode of "Elementary" titled "The Five Orange Pipz" takes some story elements from this short story. The unusual "Pipz" spelling is the trademarked name of a fictional bead toy where a manufacturing error rendered the orange beads