The Removal of Sunflower

First of all, let me start out by saying this is not an argument on whether or not it was Good to remove the Sunflower character from the Pastoral Sequence. For now, we're just going with the fact that she's gone, and they're not going to put her back.

My question is on How they did it, because this seems very masterfully done.

I saw Fantasia for the first time back around 1981 or 1982. It was one of those Theatrical Re-Releases that had been done many times before Home Video became common. I was about 10 or 11 then, so I don't remember exactly how that version appeared in the theater.

I just recently bought the Fantasia / Fantasia 2000 2-disc combo for DVD. I had been aware of the removal of Sunflower for a while, so I compared my current DVD with some clips I had seen on You-Tube.

Some of the removals were obvious. One technique was mainly just to zoom in on a character in close-up so you couldn't see Sunflower. Two scenes that come to mind are where Sunflower was polishing a Centaurette's hooves and another where the Centaurettes are peering through the trees and bushes at the male Centaurs while Sunflower is still primping them in the back. The DVD commentary said that the Zoom made the picture look more grainy, but that's not the case with the most recent DVD. It looks very Clear.

Another technique was the Repeat of a Shot to make up for Sunflower's abscence. There is a scene where a Centaurette models down a modified stairway, and she does the exact same motion twice. If you watch the most recent DVD it's very obvious. It's clear that this Repeat was done to make up for a cut scene, so that the Music would still flow and remain at the same overall length.

The last technique that I'm most interested in is "Invisible" Sunflower. Rather than the Zoom or Repeated Sequence, they have a scene where Sunflower was there and is now completely invisible. One sequence is where a Centaurette is modeling and in the original, Sunflower was behind her holding out some flower garlands attached to the Centaurette in front and trailing behind her back. The Modeling Centaurette is still there, but Sunflower is completely Invisible. Another Scene is when they are preparing the Throne or Seat of Honor for Bacchus. In the original, Sunflower was rolling a Red Carpet up some steps towards the Throne, and then she moved behind the Throne. In the most recent DVD, the Red Carpet unrolls by itself. Again, Sunflower has turned Invisible. All of the other elements in that scene are intact.

I know that Sunflower has been taken out since about 1958, so does anybody know how they did the Invisible Sunflower scenes? With this most recent DVD release, I'm thinking that they could have erased her Digitally. However, I'm wondering how they did this in the days before Digital Editing. Did they just cut those scenes out Completely for a while, and only recently restored them using Digital Editing? Or, did somebody actually Re-Animate these scenes a long time ago? Maybe somebody just got the original Cels and did those scenes over again?

Was just wondering if there's anyone out there who was really familiar with the various Edits and Versions of Fantasia throughout the years and how they managed to Erase a character like that.