Form doesn't appear until control is changed. Why?

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C#3.0

C#

Hello all,

I was asked to develop an extremely simple GUI to front-end what was a console program in order to give the user assurance that the program actually is doing something. I created a Windows application with a single form. I designed the form so that there is a label which displays "Working. Please stand by...". In the Form1() method(?) I do some work & track whether or not the program completed its task successfully. Depending on success or failure, I change the text in the label, alter the image in a picturebox and make an OK button visible that the user can click to dismiss the form.

Here's the problem I'm running into: The form will not actually appear until I drop into the method which alters the text in the label. So, in effect, the user doesn't see the form at all until the program has completed its work. I'm not sure what I am doing wrong. I would expect the form to appear immediately after calling InitializeComponent(). Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

namespace Blah
{
    static class Program
    {
        [STAThread]
        static void Main()
        {
            Application.EnableVisualStyles();
            Application.SetCompatibleTextRenderingDefault(false);
            Application.Run(new Form1());
        }
    }

    public partial class Form1 : Form
    {
        public Form1()
        {
            InitializeComponent();
            bool result = doStuff();
            if (result) 
                success();
            else
                fail();
        }

        private void success()
        {
            lblStatus.Text = "Process was successful.";
            pbxStatus.Image = global::IACRenew2.Properties.Resources.check;
            btnOK.Visible = true;
        }

        private void fail()
        {
            lblStatus.Text = "An error occurred.  Please contact support.";
            pbxStatus.Image = global::IACRenew2.Properties.Resources.error;
            btnOK.Visible = true;
        }
    }
}