This is a bug in AppleScript 1.1 that happens only on systems with more than 512MB of total memory (Real or Virtual). It is fixed in AppleScript 1.1.2 , which is installed with Mac OS 8.0.
There are two solutions to this issue:
- Upgrade to Mac OS 8.0 or later.
- Adjust the virtual memory in the Memory control panel so that the sum of physical and virtual memory is not more than 512 MB. If you have more than 512 MB of RAM, you must remove enough RAM so that your combined physical memory and virtual memory is 512 MB or less.