diff --git a/Lib/idlelib/NEWS.txt b/Lib/idlelib/NEWS.txt
index d340e66cd40..6688c5ac189 100644
--- a/Lib/idlelib/NEWS.txt
+++ b/Lib/idlelib/NEWS.txt
@@ -1,7 +1,9 @@
 What's New in IDLE 3.0a3?
 =========================
 
-*Release date: XX-XXX-200X*
+*Release date: XX-XXX-2008*
+
+- help() was not paging to the shell.  Issue1650.
 
 - CodeContext was not importing.
 
diff --git a/Lib/idlelib/PyShell.py b/Lib/idlelib/PyShell.py
index 9962894d4d0..434df67b09c 100644
--- a/Lib/idlelib/PyShell.py
+++ b/Lib/idlelib/PyShell.py
@@ -828,6 +828,14 @@ class PyShell(OutputWindow):
             sys.stdout = self.stdout
             sys.stderr = self.stderr
             sys.stdin = self
+        try:
+            # page help() text to shell.
+            import pydoc # import must be done here to capture i/o rebinding.
+            # XXX KBK 27Dec07 use a textView someday, but must work w/o subproc
+            pydoc.pager = pydoc.plainpager
+        except:
+            sys.stderr = sys.__stderr__
+            raise
         #
         self.history = self.History(self.text)
         #
diff --git a/Lib/idlelib/run.py b/Lib/idlelib/run.py
index 9fbe0e9a4a8..407e54309d0 100644
--- a/Lib/idlelib/run.py
+++ b/Lib/idlelib/run.py
@@ -247,6 +247,9 @@ class MyHandler(rpc.RPCHandler):
         sys.stdin = self.console = self.get_remote_proxy("stdin")
         sys.stdout = self.get_remote_proxy("stdout")
         sys.stderr = self.get_remote_proxy("stderr")
+        # page help() text to shell.
+        import pydoc # import must be done here to capture i/o binding
+        pydoc.pager = pydoc.plainpager
         from idlelib import IOBinding
         sys.stdin.encoding = sys.stdout.encoding = \
                              sys.stderr.encoding = IOBinding.encoding