Dynamic textfield alpha problem

Hi,
I created a textfield dynamically through actionscript 3.0 code. The bizarre things is, is that when I call my textfield (it’s var is pmlabel), I am able to use other properties properly, but not alpha. For example:

pmlable.visible = false;

That works and makes the textfield invisible. Another example:

pmlabel.text = “Something”;

That works and fills the textfield with the word Something. But when I try this:

pmlabel.alpha = 0.5;

Nothing appears to change. I have run a trace statement like this before and after the statement as follows:

trace(pmlable.alpha);
pmlabel.alpha = 0.5;
trace(pmlable.alpha);

output is:
1
0.5

Why won’t it actually fade my textfield? Thanks.

icekube12jr