E. Virgil Neal

Ewing Virgil Neal (September 25, 1868 – June 30, 1949) was an American stage hypnotist (as Xenophon LaMotte Sage), author, fraudster, and a wealthy manufacturer of patent medicines and cosmetics. 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 (always known as “E. Virgil”) was born on September 25, 1868, at Georgetown, Missouri.

His father, Armistead Arthur Neal (1925–1898), was born in Kentucky, served in the Union Army during the Civil War, was a mason and, as a highly respected educator, served as the County School Superintendent of Pettis County from 1870 to 1872. His mother, Cornelia Ellen Reese (1846–1924), was a well-educated woman, and a descendant of General Clark of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. He had two sisters, Ardelle Lenore Neal (1871–1950), later Mrs. John Clarence Sterling, and Margaret Pearl Neal (1872–1930), later Mrs. Frederick Francis Fitzpatrick.

Neal married three times: to Mollie Hurd (1873–1944) in 1893; Harriett Meta Meister (1884–) in 1911; and Renée Pauline Bodier (1873–1982) in 1924, with whom he had one child, Xen LaMotte Neal (1924–1996).

Career

Neal worked as an instructor at ''Robbins’ Central Business College'' in Sedalia, Missouri. 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 stage hypnotist, 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 ''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

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