1932 Maybach DS8 Zeppelin V12 200hp 8000cc 160kmh Bild 1

Ewing Virgil Neal (September 25, 1868 – June 30, 1949) was an American

stage hypnotist Stage hypnosis is hypnosis performed in front of an audience for the purposes of entertainment, usually in a theatre or club. A modern stage hypnosis performance typically delivers a comedic show rather than simply a demonstration to impress an au ...

(as Xenophon LaMotte Sage), author, fraudster, and a wealthy manufacturer of patent medicines and

cosmetics Cosmetics are constituted mixtures of chemical compounds derived from either natural sources, or synthetically created ones. Cosmetics have various purposes. Those designed for personal care and skin care can be used to cleanse or protect ...

. He spent much time in Paris and the French Riviera, and built the Château d'Azur in the hills above Nice. The street address is now Avenue Virgile-Neal.

Early life

Ewing Virgil Neal was born in

Georgetown, Missouri Georgetown is an unincorporated community or populated place (Class Code U6) located in Pettis County, Missouri, United States. The community is located on Missouri Route H approximately one mile west of US Route 65 and three miles north of Sed ...

, the son of school teacher Armistead A. "Pete" Neal, and raised in nearby

Sedalia, Missouri Sedalia is a city located approximately south of the Missouri River and, as the county seat of Pettis County, Missouri, United States, it is the principal city of the Sedalia Micropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2010 census, the city had ...

Career

Neal worked as an instructor at a business college in Sedalia. Together with a few colleagues, he went to a hypnotism show by Sylvain A. Lee, and saw "a blindfold drive, a window sleeper, and a cataleptic burial." As a result, they all then trained as hypnotists and left their college jobs. Neal and his wife Mollie toured the US as a

, performing as Xenophon LaMotte Sage and Helen Olga Sage. In 1904, he travelled to Europe and used tea sweepings to make caffeine. He then went into business with physician Herbert Arthur Parkyn and fellow hypnotist Elmer Sidney Prather, "running a complex network of fraudulent mail-order schemes". He also sold wrinkle eradicators, weight reducers, bust developers, hair restorers, and "Nuxated Iron". Neal eventually moved into mainstream beauty products, and manufactured "Tokalon" powders and creams at factories in Paris and London, and sold them in 100 countries. Neal also produced fragrances, including ''Petalia'' and ''Captivant de Tokalon'' that were sold in Lalique bottles. In February 2022, a 1923

René Lalique René Jules Lalique (6 April 1860 – 1 May 1945) was a French jeweller, medallist, and glass designer known for his creations of glass art, perfume bottles, vases, jewellery, chandeliers, clocks, and automobile hood ornaments. Life Lalique's ...

''Petalia'' bottle sold for £25,000. In the 1920s and 1930s, Neal spent much time on the French Riviera, and had the Château d'Azur built in the hills above Nice. The Château d'Azur was designed by the architect Adrien Rey, as a replica of the

Château d'Azay-le-Rideau The Château d'Azay-le-Rideau () is located in the town of Azay-le-Rideau in the French département of Indre-et-Loire. Built between 1518 and 1527, this château is considered one of the foremost examples of early French renaissance architecture. ...

, and was completed in 1932. Neal was known locally as ''Le Duc'', and entertained lavishly in his "genially overdecorated" Château. It sits in landscaped grounds of , and is now nine separate residences. The street address is Avenue Virgile-Neal.

Personal life

In 1900, he was a publisher, living in

Rochester, New York Rochester () is a City (New York), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, the county seat, seat of Monroe County, New York, Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffalo, ...

, with his wife Molly H. Neal, born May 1876, (both born in Missouri, all parents born in Kentucky) and one servant. In 1914 and 1919, he was married to Harriett Meta Meister, born April 8, 1884, in Brooklyn, New York, and they were living at 927 Fifth Avenue, New York City. In 1933, he arrived in New York City from Southampton, England, on the SS ''Europa'' with his wife Renée Bodier (age 36, born in Paris), his son Xen LaMotte Neal (born October 13, 1924, in Paris), a secretary, maid, valet and chauffeur. In 1933, he sent his "magnificent"

Maybach Zeppelin The Maybach Zeppelin was the Maybach company's '' Repräsentationswagen'' model from 1929 to 1939. Named for the company's famous production of Zeppelin engines prior to and during World War I, it was an enormous luxury vehicle which weighed appro ...

limousine back to France, along with his "buxom young wife, his buxom young French secretary, his 9-year-old son Xen LaMotte Sage (after the father's pseudonym), maids, valet, 30 trunks, 40 other pieces of luggage." His prize possession was a green leather booklet signed by

Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (; 29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who founded and led the National Fascist Party. He was Prime Minister of Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until his deposition in 194 ...

, which he called his "Fascist Membership Card". Neal said, "Mussolini never gives his signature. Great man, Mussolini. We talk in French because I don't know much Italian." Neal died in 1949.

Publications

*''Modern Illustrated Banking'' *''Modern Illustrated Bookkeeping''

Early life

Career

Personal life

Publications

See also

References

Further reading