What Do You Do with a Phantom Sailor Suit? A New Note with Some "New" Old Evidence on Cornell Woolrich, the Blackton Sisters and the Infamous Story of the Sex Diary

What Will We Do with a Drunken SailorWhat Will We Do with a Drunken SailorWhat Will We Do with a Drunken SailorEarly in the MorningShave His Belly with a Rusty RazorShave His Belly with a Rusty RazorShave His Belly with a Rusty RazorEarly in the Morning --"Drunken Sailor," Trad. Sea ShantyThe lynchpin--indeed, the only "evidence"--of Francis Nevins' claim that Cornell Woolrich was a "self-loathing homosexual" is the infamous sailor suit story. Woolrich had gone out from New York to Los Angeles, California, to write screenplays for Hollywood and there in 1930 at the age of 27 he met 20-year-old Violet Virginia Blackton, who preferred to go by the name Gloria and was nicknamed by her family "Bill." She was one of two daughters of film director J. Stuart Blackton, her elder sister, by nearly a decade, being Marian Constance Blackton. Young Bill and Cornell eloped on Dec. 6, 1930 but the marriage, which was never consummated, merely lasted, it is variously stated, less than three weeks or…