diff --git a/prelude/prelude-ui.el b/prelude/prelude-ui.el
index 716b419..b511124 100644
--- a/prelude/prelude-ui.el
+++ b/prelude/prelude-ui.el
@@ -38,14 +38,24 @@
 ;; already disabled anyway
 (when (fboundp 'tool-bar-mode)
   (tool-bar-mode -1))
+
 ;; the menu bar is mostly useless as well
 ;; but removing it under OS X doesn't make much sense
+
+;; For daemon mode, with-selected-frame seems to be required.  Normal
+;; mode seems to require with-selected-frame to be absent.
+(require 'server) ;;for server-running-p
 (defun prelude-frame-config (frame)
   "Custom behaviours for new frames."
   (if (eq system-type 'darwin)
-      (if (display-graphic-p)
-          (modify-frame-parameters frame '((menu-bar-lines . 1)))
-        (modify-frame-parameters frame '((menu-bar-lines . 0))))
+      (if (server-running-p)
+          (with-selected-frame frame
+            (if (display-graphic-p)
+                (modify-frame-parameters frame '((menu-bar-lines . 1)))
+              (modify-frame-parameters frame '((menu-bar-lines . 0)))))
+        (if (display-graphic-p)
+            (modify-frame-parameters frame '((menu-bar-lines . 1)))
+          (modify-frame-parameters frame '((menu-bar-lines . 0)))))
     (menu-bar-mode -1)))
 
 ;; run now