Writer of Pop Culture

Cool and refreshing news about pop culture and entertainment.

This Day in Pop Culture for December 11

On this day in pop culture history, Disney unveiled its first African American princess, Shakespeare fell in love and the Muppets shared the screen with Michael Caine.

December 11, 2020

2–3 minutes

2009: The First African American Disney Princess Appears

The animated hit The Princess and the Frog is Walt Disney Animation Studios 49th animated feature film and is loosely based on the novel, The Frog Princess by E.D. Baker which in turn was loosely based on The Frog Prince by the Brothers Grimm.

Set in New Orleans in the 1920s, the story is about Tiana, a talented but overworked waitress with big dreams of owning her own restaurant. Just like the classic tale, she is asked by a frog to kiss him as he is really a handsome prince. However, unlike ther previous stories, when she does so, she becomes a frog too!

The movie was written and directed by Ron Clements and John Musker and featured the voices of Anika Noni Rose, Bruno Campos, Keith David, Michael-Leon Wooley, Jennifer Cody, Jim Cummings, Peter Bartlett, Jenifer Lewis, Oprah Winfrey, Terrence Howard, and John Goodman. The Princess and the Frog won the 67th Golden Globe for Best Animated Feature Film.

In 2024, both Disneyland and Walt Disney World converted their popular Splash Mountain attractions to be rethemed as Tiana’s Bayou Adventure. (Image: Walt Disney Animation Studios)

1988: Shakespeare Falls in Love

Directed by John Madden, the Miramax film Shakespeare in Love is a fictional, period romantic comedy about what “could” have happened between William Shakespeare (Joseph Fiennes) and Viola de Lesseps (Gwyneth Paltrow) while he was busy writing the story of Romeo and Juliet. The comedy also starred Geoffrey Rush, Colin Firth, Ben Affleck and Judi Dench.

Shakespeare in Love was nominated for 13 Academy Awards including Best Picture beating out the expected win of Saving Private Ryan. It the was the first comedy to win the award since 1977’s Annie Hall. Some speculated the win came from Harvey Weinstein’s (who founded Miramax) heavy push of marketing with the movie’s talent. At any rate, the movie also won Oscars for Best Actress (Paltrow), Supporting Actor (Rush), Supporting Actress (Dench), Screenplay (written directly for the screen), Art Direction, Costume Design and Best Original Musical or Comedy Score.

1992: Muppets Share Their Version of ‘A Christmas Carol’

The umpteenth version of Charles Dickens’ classic, A Christmas Carol was given the Muppet treatment and delivered to theaters on this day in 1992. The film featured very few humans including Michael Caine as Ebenezer Scrooge. Despite the fact that the movie is made with Muppets, it was surprisingly effective and had some sweet moments. It was the first Muppet movie to be released after the death of the fuzzy one’s creator, Jim Henson. It was directed by Brian Henson, Jim’s son.