Smarty error: problem creating directory on PHP4 with safe mode on

After enabling the Civicrm module in drupal, clicking on the CiviCRM link raises a screen full of Smarty errors that note that template directories can't be created. Even if the path and file permissions are correct, PHP's safe mode prevents Smarty from creating subdirs in the template_c directory. By disabling the subdirs and chmod'ing template_c to 777 you can get past this showstopper if you make the following change to
civicrm/Core/Smarty.php on line 84:

change
$this->use_sub_dirs = true;
to
$this->use_sub_dirs = false;