Movie clip dissapears after I set _width to it!

1

Alright, I am pulling my hair out on this one. haha.

Check it out. I am creating an XML gallery. I am able to load in the gallery info from the XML just fine. The preloader works just fine. And I can set my _x and my _y just fine.

BUT… when I attempt to set my movie clip (that acts as the pic holder) to a width or height, the MC never shows up!

function firstImage() {
    if (loaded == filesize) {
        picture._alpha = 0;
        picture.loadMovie(image[which],1);
        desc_txt.text = description[which];
// initiate postitions and scaling values for objects
        picture._x = 0;
        picture._y = 0;
        //THIS NEXT LINE CAUSES THE PROBLEM
               // IF I COMMENT IT OUT, WORKS FINE!
        picture._width = 500;
        
        picture_num();
    }
}

Help would be more than amazing.

Thanks!