This is another font issue. This is similar to this one, although the solution found there doesn't work for me. I am on OSX 10.6 using python 2.7.6. I installed the latest via git. That went fine. I can import matplotlib:

import matplotlib
print matplotlib.__version__
=> 1.4.x

Now if I do:

import matplotlib.pyplot

I get nothing. It just hangs. This is the traceback which is what leads me to believe that this a font manager issue: https://gist.github.com/chestervonwinchester/9725539