This English Tudor house, located at 201 Clent Road, Great Neck, New York, may not look like much of a love nest. But in 1948, its chief female resident, Mrs. Dorothea Matthews turned this house into something approaching the Playboy Mansion, East. It wasn’t until Mrs. Matthews’ divorce proceedings from her husband Mark Matthews in 1948 that we began to see that wanton sexual escapades did not begin in the groovy Sixties. According to court documents, Mrs. Matthews racked up a large number of sexual partners.
As a slim, shapely 28 year-old woman with plenty of time on her hands, Dorothea had many sexual options beyond her husband Mark, and she took advantage of so many of them. Mrs. Matthews was a very forthright individual; or, to put it in the words of the New York Daily News , she was “socially minded.” Mrs. Matthews managed to bed down a good number of men and women in Great Neck, Upstate New York, trains in transit to Florida, Manhattan, and probably lots of other places.
Yet her taste in sexual partners was not indiscriminate. A doctor, art historian, student, actor, secretary, and her husband, who was a Ping-Pong champion and owned a messenger service, filled her sexual roster, and those are only the ones we know about. And of course, a murderer would be one of her conquests. But let’s start with her husband.
The Ping-Pong Champion and Husband: Mark Matthews
Born Marcus Schussheim, Mark Matthews married Dorothea on September 16, 1936 in Yonkers. Mark Matthews owned a couple of Grand Central Station area messenger services and made quite a bit of money from them. Obviously, this would prove to be a turbulent marriage. Mark was apparently more tolerant of Dorothea’s sexual hungers than most husbands would be.
Mark Matthews was also a world-class ping pong champion. According to a press clipping about Mark and his ping pong prowess, he liked to sleep nude and tended to drink lemonade before going to sleep and after. At age two, according to Mark, he fell three stories out of a window and directly into a garbage can. A scar over his left eye remained with him.
Mark clearly viewed Dorothea through his penis; he did not make her his wife for practical purposes. According to a 1950 newspaper account, “Dorothea…couldn’t cook or keep house, and she wasn’t interested in learning.”
The Hatseller: Doris Lee
Doris Lee had a hat business in Great Neck. New York. Because Doris had a brick-and-mortar location, she received some of the love letters that men sent to Dorothea Matthews. At least on one occasion, Dorothea and Mark had a foursome with Doris Lee and actor John Meredith.
The Actor: John Meredith
Other than this photo from IMDB (John Meredith identified as the actor in the middle), I haven’t found out anything about him.
The Doctor: Fernand Vistreich
Dr. Vistreich was a Great Neck doctor who consulted with Mrs. Matthews in bed. According to Mrs. Matthews’ cook Claude Stewart, one morning he served coffee to Dr. Vistreich and Mrs. Matthews in bed. “That’s absurd!” retorted Dr. Vistreich in courter, “I’ll bring charges against anyone who says that! I have a family!” He pointed at Mrs. Matthews, called her a baboon, a reference which the judge ordered struck from court records.
Dr. Visteich’s wife of the time put up a good show, above, accompanying him to court. But the affair and perhaps other events incinerated the marriage. In 1964 Dr. Vistreich married schoolteacher Roslyn Vistreich (d. 1999).
The One-Night-Stand Physician: Doctor Spear
In 1941, while on a train to Florida, Mrs. Matthews met a stranger, Dr. Spear, for a one night stand. She insisted that they only got together to see Seminole Indians for a day tour.
The Art Historian: Winston Weisman
Then there was the free-spirited Winston Weisman (February 2, 1909 – October 9, 1997), who first hit the minor headlines in 1937 when the freighter he was travelling in, West Mahwah, hit a sandbar 35 miles south of San Francisco, near Pesadero. Weisman and his companion 23 year-old Karola Preer were the only two passengers on this freighter, along with 45 crewmen. When Weisman next hit the headlines, it was as Mrs. Matthews’ sexual partner.
The Murderer: Herbert Gehr
Gehr was an amiable enough guy, so it’s only for dramatic purposes that he’s called the killer. Yet the fact does remain: he did kill. Gehr killed his wife, Andrea Goldschmidt Gehr, point-blank. Gehr and his wife, after 8 years of marriage, had come to hate each other intensely. A friend of the couple relates that they become physically ill when they were in each other’s presence. Herbert Gehr would take care of that problem before long, though.
It happened in Brewster, New York, a small village 30 miles north of White Plains. Herbert was shacked up with Dorothea Matthews in a cottage in or around Brewster, when Andrea showed up at 2:30 am, four detectives in tow. Herbert had apparently been expecting trouble, because he had booby-trapped the yard. The traps didn’t do their job, because the party was able to reach the house, Germanic bulldog Andrea leading the way. Gehr shot through the screen door with a .22, killing his wife.
Cast of Characters
- Dorothea Matthews: Great Neck, NY housewife and mother
- Mark Matthews (Marcus Schussheim): First husband of Dorothea Matthews and Ping Pong champion
- Joseph Matthews: Brother of Mark
- Winston Weisman: Art historian and one of Dorothea’s affairs
- Herbert Gehr: One of Dorothea’s affairs
- Andrea Goldschmidt Gehr: Herbert Gehr’s first wife, killed by Herbert
- Kiki Richter: Herbert Gehr’s second wife
- Dr. Fernand Vistreich: Great Neck, NY doctor and one of Dorothea’s affairs
- James Lonergan: Student and one of Dorothea’s affairs in 1941
- John Meredith: Described as an MGM actor, still photographer, and one of Dorothea’s affairs
- Doris Lee: Milliner in Great Neck, friend of Dorothea
Timeline
- 1920: Dorothea Matthews born (possibly November 4?)
- September 16, 1936: Mark Matthews and Dorothea Matthews wed in Yonkers
- July 10, 1950: Herbert Gehr shooting
- November 13, 1950: Dorothea Matthews obtains divorce in Huntsville, Alabama
- January 16, 1951: Putnam County (NY) jury finds Herbert Gehr not guilty of shooting wife.
- December 28, 1952: Herbert Gehr and Kiki Richter marry
- May 2, 2012 (possible?): Dorothea Matthews dies
