# Who Was "Murgatroyd"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 27, 2010, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-murgatroyd/555262 "2010-09-27T20:08:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2010, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-murgatroyd/555262/1 "2010-09-27T20:08:21Z")
My Dad is fond of using this catchall name for my mother. When I asked him about the name, he said that he thought that “Murgatroyd” was a character in an old time radio show-possibly Fred Allen or Jack Benny . He also thought it was used by William Bendix in the late 1950’s TV show “The Life of Reilly”. Beyond these reminisces, I have no idea who the character was-anybody know? ---
**Author:** ![MissTake](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misstake/32/3189_2.png) [@MissTake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MissTake)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2010, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-murgatroyd/555262/2 "2010-09-27T20:12:07Z")
Snagglepuss said it… Heavens to murgatroid! (And I say it, too) ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2010, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-murgatroyd/555262/3 "2010-09-27T20:15:47Z")
[Here you go.](http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/heavens-to-murgatroyd.html) Interesting history of the name and phrase. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2010, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-murgatroyd/555262/4 "2010-09-27T20:17:49Z")
A Sir Ruthven Murgatroyd is a main character (along with a lot of his ancestors who are also baronets Murgatroyd) in Gilbert and Sullivan’s [Ruddigore](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruddigore). ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2010, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-murgatroyd/555262/5 "2010-09-27T20:18:13Z")
**Gary T** beat me. Damn that **Gary T**! ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2010, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-murgatroyd/555262/6 "2010-09-27T20:20:49Z")
> [@](#): > > The first use of the phrase wasn’t by Snagglepuss but comes from the 1944 film Meet the People. It was spoken by Bert Lahr, best remembered for his role as the Cowardly Lion in The Wizard of Oz. — [Heavens To Murgatroyd - Meaning & Origin Of The Phrase](http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/heavens-to-murgatroyd.html) aaaaaaaaaahhh Gary T!!! ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2010, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-murgatroyd/555262/7 "2010-09-27T20:28:51Z")
Murgatroyd was also the nom de villiany of a Boskonian Bad Guy in E. E. Smith’s Lensman series. That predates _Meet the People_ by 20 years. ---
**Author:** ![C.Montgomery\_Burns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecd19e/32.png) [@C.Montgomery\_Burns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C.Montgomery_Burns)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-murgatroyd/555262/8 "2010-09-28T11:31:10Z")
I remember hearing Bing Crosby call Bob Hope ‘Murgatroyd’ once on a radio show. They were always giving each other goofy nicknames during shows, like Helium Hips, Turkey Jackson, Buster, etc. I think it was whatever came to mind at the time. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-murgatroyd/555262/9 "2010-09-28T12:28:43Z")
An old **National Lampoon** blurb, referring to Snagglepuss, speculated that St. Murgatroyd was the patron saint of interior decorators. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-murgatroyd/555262/10 "2010-09-28T12:46:52Z")
Doesn’t Marvin The Martian say that sometimes too? That’s my only (childhood) recollection of it. That and the “Illidium Space Modulator” or something like that. ---
**Author:** ![Methyl\_Ethyl\_Death](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Methyl\_Ethyl\_Death](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Methyl_Ethyl_Death)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-murgatroyd/555262/11 "2010-09-28T13:54:57Z")
Sorry **FoieGras** , Marvin never says this. His catch phrase was “You have made / This makes me very angry!” ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-murgatroyd/555262/12 "2010-09-28T14:05:10Z")
\*Sir Murgatroyd at Sebastapool \*was written by Joseph S. Newman and published in a collection of verse, \*Pack Up Your Troubles \*in 1942: > [@](#): > > Sebastapool The Mangler was a wrestler known and feared > Wherever and whenever he professionally appeared. > He was just blob of blubber with the contour of a barrel, > But every ounce was double packed with petrifying peril! > > His arms were thick as tree trunks and his fists were big as pails, > and when he gripped a grappler what was left was “mere details.” > Though some there were who doubted what he had below his hat, > Sebastapool The Mangler was almighty on the mat. > And none, whatever else they thought, had ever questioned that. > > Among the famous champions of whom epic tales are told, > Sir Murgatroyd The Murderer was something to behold! > A big, ferocious, bullet-headed, bellows-chested gent > With a locomotive chassis and a jaw of pure cement. > He was wicked, he was nasty, he was anything but nice, > And he seldom signed a challenger who thought about it twice. > > But Sebastapool The Mangler, with a terrifying leer, > Roared, “Who the Hell is Murgatroyd!”–the pretty little dear! > “I’ll crush him to a jelly and I’ll spread him on the mat > And I’ll eat them both together fer me vitamins and fat!” It goes on for another hundred lines about their titanic match. Newman was the uncle of actor Paul Newman. ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-murgatroyd/555262/13 "2010-09-28T14:05:41Z")
Also a character in Agatha Christie’s “A Murder is Announced” ---
**Author:** ![JoelUpchurch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f05b48/32.png) [@JoelUpchurch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoelUpchurch)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-murgatroyd/555262/14 "2010-09-28T18:16:31Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Murgatroyd was also the nom de villiany of a Boskonian Bad Guy in E. E. Smith’s Lensman series. That predates _Meet the People_ by 20 years. Murgatroyd was in **First Lensmen** , which was a prequel, that wasn’t published until 1950.