That's fascinating that a film that was such a big deal even at the time, and it's not that old in cinema terms, would have so much significant lost footage.

As another commenter here points out -- it's surprising that at least one theater didn't keep the trimmed footage, or didn't ignore the trim request.

Did I read it right? I’m extremely surprised to read that the cuts were made by projectionists in theaters that were are already planning to show the longer cut using precise notes. If this is in fact the case, I can easily imagine the trims floating around.

I’m guessing this was only the premiere prints?

I know theater owners would take films like Lawrence of Arabia and cut out segments so they could trim run time and have more showings. This made the long epics hard to keep intact.