tkFileDialog.askopenfile() mac

Hello,

I am attempting to use tkFileDialog.askopenfile():

1) On my Mac OSX Mavericks w/ Python 2.7.8, Anaconda 2.0.1 (x86_64) the 
following code (found via web searches) crashes:

from Tkinter import *
import tkFileDialog
root = Tk()
root.withdraw()
file = tkFileDialog.askopenfile(parent=root)

- A file dialog opens, I can select a file and click the Open button or 
doubleclick the filename.  The window freezes, the spinning rainbow ball 
comes up, and a Kernel restart is needed to close the window.

This happens on iPython notebook as well as within the Spyder IDE.

2) I run the same distribution on a Linux VM on the same machine. 
There, it works fine.  The variable 'file' contains the name of 
whichever file I've selected.

As far as I know, my Mac Python distribution is up-to-date.

Pointers to documentation or fixes appreciated.

JBB