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I think you're right about Red Skelton, though I haven't thought of that line in years. The conventional spelling (it's a real name) is Murgatroyd, BTW.

Charles Funk and others have spent a good deal of time trying to track down "Betsy" without being able to identify any specific person as the basis of the expression. It may relate to the use of the term as a nickname for the frontiersman's rifle. It originated in the US and first shows up in the 19th century, so Elizabeth I is a most unlikely candidate.

Beats the heck out of me. I think it was just a funny name Skelton (or whoever orginated the phrase) substituted for the plain "Betsy".

Try searching on "Murgatroyd" rather than "Heavens to.." and you'll find plenty of examples, both as a first and last name. A straight search of "Murgatroyd" turns up >12,000 hits, "Mergatroid" "titles" (i.e., made-up names). And then there's "Murgatroid", ~3700 hits.

Hmm. FWIW, a poster on "The Phrase Finder" claims that the phrase refers to a character from Gilbert and Sullivan's _Ruddigore_, specifically "the ghost of Sir Ruthven Murgatroyd". phrases.shu.ac.uk/bulleti...s/649.html

Searching on "Heavens to..." the most popular spelling on the net seems to be Murgatroid (1930 hits) followed by Mergatroid (405), Murgatroyd (231) and Mergatroyd (33). However, the u/y version is unquestionably the most common spelling of the actual name; I suspect the -oid versions have originated by misspelling this rare name under the influence of the common noun/adjective ending -oid.