What is the origin of the phrase "Holy Samolies"?

Question

Online dictionaries have failed me.

Answer 1

Holy Samolies"/"Holy Samoly" seems to simply be a variation on "Holy Moly" --created by the rhyme, likely based on "Holy Moses"-- perhaps influenced by "Holy smoke!"

Some more background:

This is one of a cluster of "holy ..." expressions - mild oaths or expletives. These are NOT ancient expressions; in fact, they are relatively recent, and very AMERICAN expressions.

For the date several of them are first attested in print:
"Holy smoke!, 1889; Holy cats!, Holy mackerel!, both 1803; Holy Moses!, 1906, Holy cow!, 1942."
From "I Hear America Talking" by Stuart Berg Flexner (Von Nostrand Reinhold Co., New York, 1976). "
http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/22/messages/23.html

Of this whole group the American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms writes:
'Holy cow,' 'holy mackerel' or 'Moses' or 'moly' or 'smoke.' An exclamation of surprise, astonishment, delight, or dismay, as in Holy cow, I forgot the wine, or Holy mackerel, you won! or Holy Moses, here comes the teacher! or Holy smoke, I didn't know you were here too. The oldest of these slangy expletives uses mackerel, dating from about 1800; the one with 'Moses' dates from about 1850 and 'cow' from about 1920. None has any literal significance, and moly is a neologism devised to rhyme with “holy” and possibly a euphemism for “Moses.”
http://www.wordwizard.com/ch_forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=3735

Compare the following on "holy smoke" --
"It seems more likely that holy smoke was invented anew as a mock-religious exclamation and mild oath on the model of the older holy Moses (from the 1850s), and holy terror and Holy Joe (both from the 1880s). In turn these probably served as the model for others of similar type that came later, such as holy cow from the early 1940s."
http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-hol1.htm


Note that the use of MOSES in oaths, like that of Peter or Mary, is itself a weak substitute for oaths using a divine name -- God, Jesus (Christ). Using these alternative names (of saints/holy people) was one way of AVOIDING (mis)using the name of God. It is very similar to the "minced oath" in which in place of at least one key word (such as the divine name) people would use a word that sounded similar, or just began with the same sound -- Examples: "Jiminy Cricket" or "Jeepers Creepers" (Jesus Christ), "Crickers" (Christ), "Gosh" and "Golly" (God); "Darn" (damn), "tarnation" (damnation); "Heck" (hell); "the deuce" (the Devil)