Cannot use a scalar value as an array, file: content.module #587 - when using single select options

notice: I have patched widgetoptions.module as bug I reported at http://drupal.org/node/193440 , so it is possible that this issue is dependent on the patch I applied there. If so, my apologies and please ignore.
Drupal version: 5.3
$node_field at the occurrence of this bug is a single-dimension array,
array (
'keys' => 0,
),
I tried:

          foreach ($node_field as $delta => $item) {
	    if(!is_array($delta)) $node_field[$delta] = array(); // added JC
            $node_field[$delta]['view'] = content_format($field, $item, $formatter, $node);
          }

and still had issues - no more php error, but the form processing didn't work (option remained checked when it was submitted as unchecked) & a display issue remained which accompanied this problem: the legend (i.e., human-readable item marking the options) wouldn't appear.