Tonight I saw mention of the movie Monster A Go Go and it reminded me of how a while back I noticed how so many 1960s TV shows had an “A-Go-Go” episode, for example
The Beverly Hillbillies: Clampett A-Go-Go
*Mister Ed: Ed A-Go-Go Gilligan’s Island: Ghost A-Go-Go The Flintstones: Shinrock-A-Go-Go Petticoat Junction: Hooterville A-Go-Go I Dream of Jeannie: Uncle A-Go-Go Gidget: Ego A-Go-Go
(Some tiltes were listed without the dashes, some with, I made them all consistent with the majority usage)
There are other TV episodes, other movies, and TV series with A Go Go in the title, most from the 1960s but some even in the 2000s.
One really weird show I discovered was Goul A Go Go
And a Golden Oldie by Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, “Going to A-Go-Go.”
Wasn’t “a-go-go” part of the name of some hot spot in NYC at the time? Even venerable Top 40 station WABC called themselves “77 A-Go-Go” for a while as I recall.
As I recall (having been an adult at that time), the suffix “a-go-go” was French in origin and meant “galore,” as in “lots of” or “plenty of.” Thus whiskey a go-go = whiskey galore. And yeah, it got applied to everything. Including dancing , as well as knee-high, ugly, white vinyl (for us poor folks) boots.
From OED website:“in abundance, galore, aplenty. In early use frequently with connotation of modishness”
When I was a 2nd grader, my sister and I would get up early on Saturday mornings; before the animated cartoons began, there was a TV show that played old buck Rogers episodes, preceding it with girls in astro-scifi clothes dancing and singing “Space-a-Go-Go”. I’ve been trying to get my hands on a recording of it, but an ex-station manager on a lost media forum said chances are not good.
1965 movie filmed at Heavenly Valley. I can identify nearly every location and recognize individual rock formations and trees. They didn’t fool me with bad edits and scene changes. All of the lifts have been replaced, but the more things change, the more they stay the same.
I got the DVD for this at the library bookstore where I volunteer. It was quite low-budget, most likely made for a DFW-area public television station, and was actually pretty good.
