TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 5: G.I. JOE

Profile America Tuesday, February 5th. It may seem hard to believe, but it was 44 years ago this week that G.I. Joe action figures first went on sale. G.I. Joe was the first mass-market doll intended for boys, and it was a huge success. It sold for $2.49. The figure's name came from the movie, "The Story of G.I. Joe," starring Robert Mitchum and Burgess Meredith. For several decades, families all over America found parts to G.I. Joes hidden under couch cushions, behind refrigerators and stuck in vacuum cleaner hoses. Today, making dolls and stuffed animals is a $328 million a year business in the U.S., employing some 2,300. You can find these and more facts about America from the U.S. Census Bureau on the Web at www.census.gov.