Charlie Brown, ‘Peanuts’ Gang And Giant Snoopy Doghouse Bring Children’s Museum Exhibit To Life

NAVY PIER — Seventy-five years ago this October, a round-headed kid in short pants skipped into the funny pages of seven American newspapers, including the Chicago Tribune. His shirt had yet to acquire its signature chevron pattern, but readers from Washington, D.C. to Denver knew his name within a single speech bubble: “Well! Here comes ol’ Charlie Brown!”

Three panels later, those same readers were introduced to the impeccable comic timing and occasionally blunt humor of cartoonist Charles M. Schulz. After a couple more “good ol’ Charlie Brown”s, Chuck’s co-star Shermy ends the inaugural “Peanuts” comic strip with the punchline, “How I hate him!”

That two-sided beginning has grown into a traveling museum exhibit about caring for yourself, other people and the planet we share. In “Peanu