Doing What He Loves Best - Performing for and Entertaining People

Mike Bliss had basically three years to be a kid and be free. By the time he was three and a half he had started his life's work.

I was at my older brother's kindergarten party and I saw a kid cut a string in half and restore it. I remember thinking, ‘That's cool!'" said Mike, already understanding that was not a normal thing to do. My parents helped me get library books to study. I started doing magic and did magic for my and my twin's 5th birthday party."

Born in California, they moved when he was 5 to Carthage, Mo., about an hour and a half from Branson.

We had a family farm with every kind of animal you could have - cows, horses, pigs, turkeys, chickens, goats, rabbits, dogs, cats," he said. "I loved the animals. We also had the largest family garden around."

But entertaining has always been Mike's passion.

By the time I was nine and ten-years-old, I was performing magic at birthday, business and church parties."

Early on he learned to add new things to his act.

Between second and third grades, I was watching a juggler on TV and thought, ‘I can do that!'" said Mike. "I grabbed my tic, tac, toe cubes and was juggling the three within 10 minutes. I began doing more tricks, bought some rubber balls and added that to the show within a month."

Between his magic and going to bed, he did have a life filled with school and sports.

I played every sport there was until high school - baseball for 13 years, soccer. I was the quarterback in football and the shortest guy on the basketball team since I didn't grow until I was 17."

Sports and magic weren't the only things keeping Mike busy.

Since second grade my family has been involved in community theater. We did Wizard of Oz, Fiddler on the Roof, Oliver as well as Our Town," said Mike. "I always loved the music. I had that theater background just by loving it. Also, from my age of 3 to 13-years-old, my brothers and I would be elves to my dad's Santa Claus and we'd go to nursing homes and kids hospitals. "

By high school something had to give.

I had to make a decision on what I was going to do - theater and music, my magic or sports. Since I didn't see myself playing sports professionally even though I loved it, it had to go," he said.

Determined to go to college, Mike applied for every scholarship he could find and it worked!

I ended up getting paid to go to College of the Ozarks in Branson, a college where you work for your tuition."

Thanks to his scholarships he didn't have to work other than his college requirements. With his community involvement background, his particular scholarship was based on community service which he did with latch key programs, tutoring, nursing homes. One of his favorites was Lives Under Construction Boys Ranch for troubled teens from 12 to 17.

There was one kid who was around 13, having problems and no one could control him. He didn't want to do the work. He was interested that I did magic. I showed him one thing and told him we could do more when he finished his work. I knew he would probably look in the back of his math book for the answers so I left the room as if I wasn't paying any attention to him. When I came back, sure enough, he was looking up an answer."

Hey, what are you doing?" I said.

Nothing, man. I'm on my page," said the boy.

Show me where you were," I said to him.

I made him turn back to the page he was looking at and look at where the answer was. Right at the answer I had written - ‘Hey, man, don't even think about it.'"

WHAT? You knew!" he said, astounded.

It really got to him so he took 30 minutes, finished his work correctly and then we talked," Mike said. "I think just being an example helped. I told him, ‘Hey, you've got a choice. Lots of good things have happened, lots of bad things have happened. But you're making choices that are continuing the bad things. Life's not equal for everybody and that's the way it is. But you've got to take what you have. No one is going to make your decisions for you.'"

As a Music Theater Performance major, Mike honed his skills even more.

I knew I wanted to get the training for music theater - the dance side, the singing side, the directing, production, lights and set design side," Mike said.

With his degree accomplished and the woman who became his wife and the mother of their five children at his side, Mike plunged back into the working world.

Today at 36, with 33 years experience, his comprehension of "entertainment" enhances his acts.

Entertaining is not about the tricks nor the gimmicks. It's not about what I'm doing. To the audience it doesn't matter if I use a skill which took five years or five minutes to master," said Mike. "The bottom line is - does it entertain them?"

It would seem with the variety in Mike's performance it would be impossible not to find something to like. Magic, unicycling, pick-pocketing (yes, that's right), joking, and music fill his time on stage to the delight of his audiences.

Whether performing on stage at Branson, on a cruise ship, for a corporate, college or church gig, it's a sure bet Mike is having the time of his life

God has been good to me and my family," he said with a grin. "I have the combo of taking what I'm given and working it - not being lazy. The one word I never say or allow my kids to say is ‘can't."

At times his children become part of the act and chances are, some of them will follow in their dad's footsteps. But, for now, Mike is happy doing what he loves best - performing and entertaining people.

I'm doing what I love," he said, thoughtfully. "It beats a real job!"