# How did they allow the character name Pussy Galore in 1964? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 16, 2014, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-they-allow-the-character-name-pussy-galore-in-1964/707446 "2014-12-16T22:58:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2014, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-they-allow-the-character-name-pussy-galore-in-1964/707446/21 "2014-12-17T14:52:43Z")
> [@Grotonian](#): > > I think a lot of Americans are unaware of the phenomenon of words being viewed as far harsher here in the States than in the UK. Pussy, piss, bastard, and shit come to mind as words that are vulgar in the UK but obscene in the US. I wouldn’t say “piss” is obscene in the U.S.; it hits the vulgar mark but that’s it. And of course bastard can be used in a fully descriptive way, though nobody really cares about being a “bastard child” now. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2014, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-they-allow-the-character-name-pussy-galore-in-1964/707446/22 "2014-12-17T15:06:45Z")
> [@Ellen\_Cherry](#): > > \<\< clipped \>\>… though nobody really cares about being a “bastard child” now. It’s the norm in Hollywood (among other places). 😉 ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2014, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-they-allow-the-character-name-pussy-galore-in-1964/707446/23 "2014-12-17T15:24:30Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > She was a lesbian in the book, I guess no way that was going to get by the censors. Nowadays there’d be no problem with her being openly lesbian, but the crucial plot point where Bond rapes her into heterosexuality and righteousness would probably cause rioting in the streets. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2014, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-they-allow-the-character-name-pussy-galore-in-1964/707446/24 "2014-12-17T15:26:41Z")
> [@Ken001](#): > > Mind you the OP asks this from a country where grown men are called Randy without blanching Hell, where some dude named Randy _Johnson_ is nicknamed “The Big Unit” and nobody even skips a beat. “Pussy Galore” sounds like a 1950s/early 60s burlesque dancer’s stage name, y’know. As others said, it could be sold at the time to the general audience and officialdom as signifying _a playful kitten_, which would be clever wordplay when contrasted with the hard henchwoman character; while at the same time “worldlier” battle-scarred veterans like Bond would get the dirty joke (“I’m Pussy Galore” “And I must be dreaming”). The most un-PC part, in the book version, and that were it to be written today may never make it even to print, is that the backstory to her lesbianism is not just explained in very stereotypical terms as: _“You know the old joke, what’s a Kentucky virgin… a 12 year old who can outrun her brothers? Well, I did but I could not outrun my Uncle. So I never cared for that”_; but then once she meets Bond, a “real man” (her words in the book) who just goes ahead and “rapes her straight” it all falls back into place… OK, so there’s a \*bad \*way to rape someone, that turns her lesbian and evil, and a \*good \*way that turns her straight in both senses of the word? :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Flywheel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2014, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-they-allow-the-character-name-pussy-galore-in-1964/707446/25 "2014-12-17T20:52:38Z")
Before **Goldfinger** , there was **[Dames](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dames)**: > [@](#): > > One of the effects of the Production Code on this film is a musical number that never made it to the screen. Berkeley had planned one featuring Joan Blondell about a fight between a cat and a mouse that ended with Blondell inviting everyone to “come up and see my pussy sometime.” ---
**Author:** ![zbuzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@zbuzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zbuzz)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2014, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-they-allow-the-character-name-pussy-galore-in-1964/707446/26 "2014-12-17T23:37:12Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > According to _ **Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang** _, a history of Bond films that was current up to Pierce Brosnan’s, UA did indeed try to pressure the producers into changing the name to Kitty Galore, but Broccoli and Salzman had already made sure to get enough footage into the can to foil their efforts. Really? They went through the trouble of dubbing Gert Frobe for practically the whole movie (let alone all the other ADR), but couldn’t be bothered to loop over a few Pussys? ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2014, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-they-allow-the-character-name-pussy-galore-in-1964/707446/27 "2014-12-18T01:14:09Z")
> [@zbuzz](#): > > Really? They went through the trouble of dubbing Gert Frobe for practically the whole movie (let alone all the other ADR), but couldn’t be bothered to loop over a few Pussys? Her name was also shown in print in at least a couple of scenes. I believe they leaked it to the press as well. ---
**Author:** ![EdwardLost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bbe5ce/32.png) [@EdwardLost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EdwardLost)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2014, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-they-allow-the-character-name-pussy-galore-in-1964/707446/28 "2014-12-18T01:57:11Z")
From “Austin Powers”: Alotta Fagina. He he. Carry on. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2014, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-they-allow-the-character-name-pussy-galore-in-1964/707446/29 "2014-12-18T02:05:55Z")
> [@EdwardLost](#): > > From “Austin Powers”: Alotta Fagina. > He he. Carry on. I honestly did not get the implications of that name until I translated it into Russian for someone. It was a real **“D’oh!”** moment. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2014, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-they-allow-the-character-name-pussy-galore-in-1964/707446/30 "2014-12-18T02:17:04Z")
Austin Powers also had Ivana Humpalot and Fook Mi and Fook Yu and Dixie Normous. ---
**Author:** ![Flywheel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2014, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-they-allow-the-character-name-pussy-galore-in-1964/707446/31 "2014-12-18T02:55:25Z")
> [@EdwardLost](#): > > From “Austin Powers”: Alotta Fagina. > He he. Carry on. On network TV, they overdubbed her name to “Alotta Cleavage.” ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2014, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-they-allow-the-character-name-pussy-galore-in-1964/707446/32 "2014-12-18T05:18:59Z")
There was a famous nightclub called [“Whisky a Gogo”](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whisky_a_Go_Go) (whence cometh the term "gogo dancer). The suffix _[a gogo](http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/a-go-go)_ was French and meant “galore.” I believe other clubs followed suit and affixed _a gogo_ to their names, not just in the USA. I think the name Pussy Galore is tied into this language phenomenon somehow. Instead of being called Pussy a Gogo, she was called Pussy Galore. Maybe another Old Person will remember this. ---
**Author:** ![Flywheel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2014, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-they-allow-the-character-name-pussy-galore-in-1964/707446/33 "2014-12-18T14:24:00Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > There was a famous nightclub called [“Whisky a Gogo”](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whisky_a_Go_Go) (whence cometh the term "gogo dancer). The suffix _[a gogo](http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/a-go-go)_ was French and meant “galore.” I believe other clubs followed suit and affixed _a gogo_ to their names, not just in the USA. I think the name Pussy Galore is tied into this language phenomenon somehow. Instead of being called Pussy a Gogo, she was called Pussy Galore. Maybe another Old Person will remember this. There was also the [1947 novel](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whisky_Galore_%28novel%29) (and [1949 film](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whisky_Galore!_%28film%29)) **Whisky Galore!**. (Imagine if they’d based her name on the US title…) ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2014, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-they-allow-the-character-name-pussy-galore-in-1964/707446/34 "2014-12-18T16:20:28Z")
Too lazy to look up a cite just now, but I recall that the “Goldfinger” scene that introduces the character initially had different dialogue. The lines that were spoken on camera were: (Bond waking up after being knocked out to find Ms. Galore standing over her.) Pussy: I’m Pussy Galore. Bond: I must be dreaming! But the original line that didn’t pass the censors was going to be: (Bond waking up after being knocked out to find Ms. Galore standing over her.) Pussy: I’m Pussy Galore. Bond: I can see that you are, but what’s your name? ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2014, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-they-allow-the-character-name-pussy-galore-in-1964/707446/35 "2014-12-18T16:28:05Z")
> [@EdwardLost](#): > > From “Austin Powers”: Alotta Fagina. There was a James Bond parody book series by Sol Weinstein where Bond was Jewish. There the character was Poontang Plenty. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2014, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-they-allow-the-character-name-pussy-galore-in-1964/707446/36 "2014-12-18T19:33:21Z")
There are some reports that Prince Philip visited the set of “Goldfinger” and was photographed with Honor Blackman (smart prince). The local newspaper used the name “Pussy Galore”. The producers argued if a family newspaper could use the name, then there was nothing wrong with it. Of course this was at a time when Rex Harrison couldn’t say “damn damn damn damn damn” in “My Fair Lady” but could say “damn damn damn damn”. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2014, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-they-allow-the-character-name-pussy-galore-in-1964/707446/37 "2014-12-18T19:40:52Z")
Plus the fact that “Pussy” refers to her being a cat burglar ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2014, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-they-allow-the-character-name-pussy-galore-in-1964/707446/38 "2014-12-18T19:44:27Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > There was a James Bond parody book series by Sol Weinstein where Bond was Jewish. There the character was Poontang Plenty. > > Regards, > Shodan Some of Weinstein’s work was in _Playboy_ in the early 60’s and one of them had the _Dr. No_ thing with the tarantula crawling on Bond in his bunk being parodied as a polar bear! I still laugh at that from time to time. Bond’s first name was Israel if I remember right. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2014, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-they-allow-the-character-name-pussy-galore-in-1964/707446/39 "2014-12-18T23:48:19Z")
> [@Grotonian](#): > > I think a lot of Americans are unaware of the phenomenon of words being viewed as far harsher here in the States than in the UK. Pussy, piss, bastard, and shit come to mind as words that are vulgar in the UK but obscene in the US. It goes both ways. No one in America would even think anything about someone using “bloody”. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2014, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-they-allow-the-character-name-pussy-galore-in-1964/707446/40 "2014-12-19T01:28:48Z")
There was also the ‘I have a pussy that talks’ scene in the 1967 Sinatra film Tony Rome. Couldnt find a clip of it. Sorry. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-they-allow-the-character-name-pussy-galore-in-1964/707446.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-they-allow-the-character-name-pussy-galore-in-1964/707446.md?page=3)