David Dalhoff Neal - Later Years

Later Years

His son Max Neal began his career as an author and playwright, with works such as The Collie and the Cat and Der Hochtourist (co-author). When the play The Collie and the Cat was to be given at the Irving Place Theatre in New York, David had written to the editor of The New York Times on December 6, 1904 for clarification, and published as "to the Editor of the New York Times":

"In receipt of a clipping from your valuable paper, in which it is stated that "Max Neal... is said to be an American from Hoboken," allow me to say in correction that my son, Max Neal, though coming from pure New England stock, was born in Munich, and has never been in America."

Just as World War I was beginning, Neal and his family were trapped on the German side. He died on May 2, 1915, at the age of 76, as the Allies' blockade choked the life out of the city of Munich. All in all, Neal painted some seventy portraits.