How to Give a C++ Class a Python __repr__() with SWIG

I've observed that when one types

help

in the Python repl, one gets

Type help() for interactive help, ...

and when one types

help()

one gets kicked into help mode. I'm pretty sure this is because site._Helper defines __repr__() (for the first example) and __call__() (for the second).

I like this behavior (prompt for just the object, and callable syntax), and I'd like to do the same for a C++ class I'm exporting to Python via SWIG. Here is a simple example of what I've tried to do

helpMimic.h
-----------
class HelpMimic
{
public:
    HelpMimic() {};
    ~HelpMimic() {};

    char *__repr__();
    void operator()(const char *func=NULL);
};

helpMimic.cxx
-------------
char *HelpMimic::__repr__()
{
    return "Online help facilities are not yet implemented.";
}

void HelpMimic::operator()(const char *func)
{
    log4cxx::LoggerPtr transcriptPtr = oap::getTranscript();
    std::string commentMsg("# Online help facilities are not yet implemented. Cannot look up ");
    if (func) {
        commentMsg += func;
    }
    else {
        commentMsg += "anything.";
    }

    LOG4CXX_INFO(transcriptPtr, commentMsg);
}

helpMimic.i
-----------
%module sample
 %{
#include <helpMimic.h>
 %}
class HelpMimic
{
public:
    HelpMimic() {};
    ~HelpMimic() {};

    char *__repr__();
    void operator()(const char *func=NULL);
};

When I attempt to use this class in my application, I can't seem to get the behavior I see with help (the output below is taken from a C++ application with Python embedded, where each input line is sent through PyEval_String()):

 tam = sample.HelpMimic()
 tam   # echoes 'tam', nothing else
 print tam
 # _5010b70200000000_p_HelpMimic
 print repr(tam)
 # <Swig Object of type 'HelpMimic *' at 0x28230a0>
 print tam.__