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The phrase "taking the mickey" will be familiar to anyone whose first language is English (on this side of the Atlantic at least) but may not be so to those for whom English is not a first language. It is sometimes claimed (probably erroneously) that this is a denigration of the Irish but some claim that it is back slang/butcher's slang/rhyming slang and is an abbreviation of "taking the Mickey Bliss", with Bliss having been supposedly a music hall artiste. The problem is that no music hall artiste of that name has ever been identified. I have therefore tried to locate this individual - if indeed he ever existed.
I have not found a music hall artiste of that name but I have unearthed one possible candidate. On 25th January 1866, in Amsterdam, Wolff and Rachel Blitz welcomed a son into the world. His name was Michael. Sometime soon afterwards the Blitz family moved to London where Michael was baptised on 5th July 1874 in Bethnal Green. In the 1881 census Wolff and Michael were living in Camberwell. In June of 1883 young Michael was taken on as a ticket collector by the East & West India Docks Railway and started work at the Crystal Palace Station. This didn't last, however, and on 1st November of the same year young Michael was dismissed for "Disobeying Orders". I haven't yet identified Michael in the 1891 census but in 1901 he had anglicised his surname and, as Michael Bliss, was living at 32,Tachbrook Street with his wife (Edie?). The script in the census record is terrible but there is a street of that name in Pimlico. On that occasion Michael describes his occupation as "artiste". He was not, so far as I can ascertain, a musical hall artiste because later entries in the USA make it clear that he was an artist (i.e. someone who painted pictures). On 30th April 1904 Michael Bliss arrived in New York aboard the Lucania and lived in the USA for the remainder of his life. On this occasion, and when he applied for naturalisation a few days later, he described himself as an "artist". On the 1915 census he was an artist in New York. In 1920 he was a Picture Peddler (sic) in Washington DC. By 1930 (the year of his death) he was working back in New York, with an Amusement Park Concession where he worked as a Free Hand Artist. Was it perhaps an artist who styled himself an "artiste" who was immortalised in rhyming slang?
I have not found a music hall artiste of that name but I have unearthed one possible candidate. On 25th January 1866, in Amsterdam, Wolff and Rachel Blitz welcomed a son into the world. His name was Michael. Sometime soon afterwards the Blitz family moved to London where Michael was baptised on 5th July 1874 in Bethnal Green. In the 1881 census Wolff and Michael were living in Camberwell. In June of 1883 young Michael was taken on as a ticket collector by the East & West India Docks Railway and started work at the Crystal Palace Station. This didn't last, however, and on 1st November of the same year young Michael was dismissed for "Disobeying Orders". I haven't yet identified Michael in the 1891 census but in 1901 he had anglicised his surname and, as Michael Bliss, was living at 32,Tachbrook Street with his wife (Edie?). The script in the census record is terrible but there is a street of that name in Pimlico. On that occasion Michael describes his occupation as "artiste". He was not, so far as I can ascertain, a musical hall artiste because later entries in the USA make it clear that he was an artist (i.e. someone who painted pictures). On 30th April 1904 Michael Bliss arrived in New York aboard the Lucania and lived in the USA for the remainder of his life. On this occasion, and when he applied for naturalisation a few days later, he described himself as an "artist". On the 1915 census he was an artist in New York. In 1920 he was a Picture Peddler (sic) in Washington DC. By 1930 (the year of his death) he was working back in New York, with an Amusement Park Concession where he worked as a Free Hand Artist. Was it perhaps an artist who styled himself an "artiste" who was immortalised in rhyming slang?
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