While the Kennedy stage was fine for the small, intimate performances in the East Room which the Kennedys favored, the President Lyndon B. Johnson and First Lady Lady Bird Johnson favored larger, more elaborate performances. Ballet patron Rebekah Harkness learned of the Johnsons' desire for a larger stage, and contacted noted ballet and theatrical designer Jo Mielziner to design something. Mielziner crafted a stage which took up a full third of the East Room, and featured cream white-painted pilasters matching the room's architecture. Mileziner originally wanted the stage's curtains to have the same fabric used for the East Room drapes. But when he learned of the cost, he settled for American-made gold silk curtains instead. The larger stage took eight men three days to set up.