Index: Modules/arraymodule.c
===================================================================
--- Modules/arraymodule.c	(revision 61850)
+++ Modules/arraymodule.c	(working copy)
@@ -668,22 +668,33 @@
 array_repeat(arrayobject *a, Py_ssize_t n)
 {
 	Py_ssize_t i;
+	Py_ssize_t j;
 	Py_ssize_t size;
 	arrayobject *np;
-	char *p;
-	Py_ssize_t nbytes;
+	Py_ssize_t oldbytes, newbytes;
 	if (n < 0)
 		n = 0;
 	size = Py_SIZE(a) * n;
 	np = (arrayobject *) newarrayobject(&Arraytype, size, a->ob_descr);
 	if (np == NULL)
 		return NULL;
-	p = np->ob_item;
-	nbytes = Py_SIZE(a) * a->ob_descr->itemsize;
-	for (i = 0; i < n; i++) {
-		memcpy(p, a->ob_item, nbytes);
-		p += nbytes;
+	oldbytes = Py_SIZE(a) * a->ob_descr->itemsize;
+	newbytes = oldbytes * n;
+	if (oldbytes == 1 && n > 0) {
+		memset(np->ob_item, a->ob_item[0], newbytes);
+		return (PyObject *) np;
 	}
+	i = 0; 
+        if (i < newbytes) { 
+                Py_MEMCPY(np->ob_item, a->ob_item, oldbytes); 
+                i = oldbytes;
+        } 
+        while (i < newbytes) { 
+                j = (i <= newbytes-i)  ?  i  :  newbytes-i; 
+                Py_MEMCPY(np->ob_item+i, np->ob_item, j); 
+                i += j; 
+        }
+
 	return (PyObject *) np;
 }
 
Index: Lib/test/test_array.py
===================================================================
--- Lib/test/test_array.py	(revision 61850)
+++ Lib/test/test_array.py	(working copy)
@@ -308,6 +308,12 @@
             array.array(self.typecode)
         )
 
+        a = 5 * array.array(self.typecode, self.example[:1])
+        self.assertEqual(
+            a,
+            array.array(self.typecode, [a[0]] * 5)
+        )
+
         self.assertRaises(TypeError, a.__mul__, "bad")
 
     def test_imul(self):