Slide master layers

I will revive this old thread because I am running into a similar situation and I can't find a resolution.

I want to create a slide layout that has layers on it, and that I can apply to new slides.  When I create the layout with a layer it looks great.  When I create a new slide and apply the layout only the base layer shows and the additional layers are not added to the new slide.

In the attached file I show the desired affect:  

• A picture is on the base layer, filling the slide.  This is an image placeholder that can be changed.
• A box with gradient is over the picture on one side, with a text placeholder over opaque part of the gradient.  The gradient fades the image into a white background so that the text can be easily read.

I tried doing this all on a one layer layout, but the large image placeholder won't stay behind the box with gradient.  When I do this on two layers it looks great in theory but the layer with the gradient and text box doesn't get applied to a new slide using the layout.  

Why provide the ability to create layers in the layouts if they don't transfer to new slides?  How can this be fixed? Can this be done using layouts instead of by creating the slides and then duplicating them?