diff --git a/Lib/plat-mac/EasyDialogs.py b/Lib/plat-mac/EasyDialogs.py
index 129cf2c..1d3edb3 100644
--- a/Lib/plat-mac/EasyDialogs.py
+++ b/Lib/plat-mac/EasyDialogs.py
@@ -243,8 +243,15 @@
 
 
 
+# The deprecated Carbon QuickDraw APIs are no longer available as of
+# OS X 10.8.  Raise an ImportError here in that case so that callers
+# of EasyDialogs, like BuildApplet, will do the right thing.
 
-screenbounds = Qd.GetQDGlobalsScreenBits().bounds
+try:
+    screenbounds = Qd.GetQDGlobalsScreenBits().bounds
+except AttributeError:
+    raise ImportError("QuickDraw APIs not available")
+
 screenbounds = screenbounds[0]+4, screenbounds[1]+4, \
     screenbounds[2]-4, screenbounds[3]-4