Actionscript 3.0 :: Passing Vars Between Frames?

I've been trying to pass function variables from one frame to another for awhile now and looked at a few tutorials on how to do but I've had no success. I'm thinking my flash CS4 is bugged..... this will not work even though its supposed to...

(frame 1 on time line)
stop();
var transferText:String;

[Code].....

Even if I use trace in the same frame I cannot call the variable "transferText" while outside the function. It is always null in both frames. Like I said I pulled this from a few tutorials and others have said it works perfect but it won't for me. I've also tried using AS classes but the result is the same. I cannot call variables created or changed by functions.

BTW, I have no problem passing standard vars from frame to frame this works every time:

(frame 1 on time line)
var passThis:String = "I'm passing this.";
frame 2 on time line)
trace(passThis);