Despite these arrangements, as time went on, there were definite indications that _Firebird_ would not be ready for the opening date at the Metropolitan Opera House, which had been agreed upon. No activity concerning it was apparent, and Adolph Bolm, its choreographer, was still in Hollywood. On the 15th September, I addressed an official letter to Ballet Theatre concerning the delay. While no reply to this was forthcoming, I subsequently learned that, without informing the original designer who had been engaged and contracted to design the scenery and costumes, and who had finished his task and had turned his designs over to the scene painters, without informing the choreographer, without informing me, Ballet Theatre had surreptitiously engaged another designer, who also was at work on the same subject. We were now faced with two productions of the same work which would, of course, require payment. A telephone call from Ballet Theatre to one of my staff, however, added the interesting information that _Firebird_ (in any production) would not be presented until I paid them certain moneys. The member of my staff who received this message, quite rightly refused to accept the message, and insisted it should be in writing. It was not until the 23rd October, the day before the work was scheduled to be produced, that Oliver Smith, of the Ballet Theatre direction, threatened officially to delay the production of _Firebird_ until I paid them the sum they demanded. In other words, Ballet Theatre would not present the Stravinsky work, and it would not open, unless I paid them $11,824.87 towards its costs. These unsubstantiated costs included those of _both_ productions, all in the face of my definite limitation of $5,000 to be paid on _one_ production, since it was impossible to imagine that there would be _two_ of them. Here was an ultimatum. The Metropolitan Opera House was already sold out to an audience expecting to see the new _Firebird_. All-out advertising and promotion had been directed towards that event. The ultimatum was, in effect, no money, no production. It was, in short, a demand for money under duress, for which there is a very ugly word. At any rate, here was a _bona fide_ dispute, a matter to be discussed; and I suggested that Ballet Theatre submit the matter to arbitration, both disputants agreeing, of course, to be bound by the arbiter’s decision. Lucia Chase, Oliver Smith, and Ballet Theatre’s new general manager refused to submit the matter to arbitration. The ultimatum remained: no money, no performance. The sold-out house had been promised _Firebird_. The public was entitled to see it.