Carie, just wanted to let you know that tonight I was experimenting with setting up a new iPhoto library with some of my digisupplies. I have '09 too. I see what you mean about not being able to go to edit mode to see the items that are black or on a black background. But what I found out quite by accident, is if you highlight the item you want to look at closer, then press the space bar, it brings the item up in quick look mode and the item becomes visible. It's still on a black background but for some reason it's visible this way. I hope I'm making sense. If not, let me know and I'll try to explain it better.
Debbie