By Associated Press, 04/06/01

KANSAS CITY -- When they were born in 1930, they had banana-creme filling and sold two for a nickel.

On today's 71st birthday, Twinkies are an American icon --whether you consider them junk food or the perfect pastry snack.

Twinkies were the creation of a Chicago bakery manager, Jimmy Dewar. He said he got the name from a billboard advertising 'Twinkle Toe Shoes.'

A World War Two banana shortage caused the switch to a vanilla-creme filling.

Now Twinkies are produced by Hostess, under the nation's largest wholesale baking company, Interstate Brands of Kansas City.

In 1999, the White House Millenium Council chose Twinkies to go in a time capsule containing objects of enduring American symbolism.

Interstate spokesman Mike Redd says the company makes 500 million Twinkies a year.