"Heavens to Murgatroyd"

[Stephen Goranson]

I don't know whether this is relevant. _Men, Women and Guns_ by Herman Cyril
McNeile (1916) pages 225-6 via Google Book full view:

...a dreadful shout was heard....
...the Colonel appeared in the door of his dug-out.
"Where is that accursed idiot, Murgatroyd? Pass the word along for the damn
fool."
"'Urry up, Conky. The ole man's a-twittering for you." Murgatroyd emerged from a
recess.
"What's 'e want?"
"I'd go and find out...."...
"Great 'Eavens! Murgatroyd reluctantly rose to/ his feet....
"Look at this, you blithering ass, look at this." The Colonel was searching
through his Fortnum and Mason packing-case on the floor. "Great Heavens! and
the caviar too--imbedded in the butter. Five defunct rodents in the brawn"....
"It wasn't me, sir," Murgatroyd spoke in an aggrieved tone."
"I didn't suppose it was, you fool." The Colonel straightened himself and glared
at his hapless minion.
"Great heavens! there's another rat on my hair-brush."

A.A. Milne, _The Sunny Side_ 1922 has something vaguely similar.

Bert Lahr's 1944 role was The Commander.

Stephen Goranson
http://www.duke.edu/~goranson
"Jannaeus, His Brother Absalom, and Judah the Essene"

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