John,
You know the the Rouser has F1017AA stamped in the dead wax, as it was I that passed that info onto you when we last discussed this subject.
Master plates were very expensive, as you well know, & I don't think Fairmount would lay out the funds for something they knew they were not going to use. All they had to do was listen to the mastertape.
Here's what I would say is more likely.
Frankie had got a release with Fairmount, "She kissed me" / "Don't cry little sad boy". He then writes (or may have written it some time before) "Because of my heart" / "I want to feel i'm wanted". Remembering the year was 1967, when uptempo numbers were going out of fashion. My gut fealing is Fairmount were not interested, probably because of the tempo. But rather than ditch the project Beverly goes to Tommy Rouse to fund & produce the record. Why did he go to Rouse in DC? Money, something that Frankie didn't have. Rouse then goes to Fairmount, after he'd done the production work on it, in an attempt to push the song to them. I would lay odds on, it was at this point when Fairmount were most likely not interested that Rouse put his hand in his pocket & shelled out for a release, a custom press. White label test presses & "x" amount of labelled release copies. What made Fairmount decide to go with a release? Perhaps Rouse managed to get some local air play. But there's no getting away from the fact that by 1967 to have a raunchy pounding number with a tiny sax break was very out dated. So this was when they opted for a cleaner more up to date sound to release.
All good fun
pottsy