The Ugly Truth About "Beautiful People of Denver"

That damn song is back!

June 10, 2024

United Airlines

[
        {
          "name": "Air - MediumRectangle - Inline Content - Mobile Display Size",
          "component": "12017618",
          "insertPoint": "2",
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "2",
          
          "watchElement": ".fdn-content-body",
          "astAdList": [
            {
              "adType": "rectangle",
              "displayTargets": "mobile"
            }
          ]
        },{
          "name": "Editor Picks",
          "component": "17242653",
          "insertPoint": "4",
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "1",
          
          "watchElement": ".fdn-content-body",
          "astAdList": [
            {
              "adType": "rectangle",
              "displayTargets": "desktop|tablet"
            },{
              "adType": "rectangle",
              "displayTargets": "desktop|tablet|mobile"
            }
          ]
        },{
          "name": "Inline Links",
          "component": "18838239",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 8,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "7",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        },{
          "name": "Air - MediumRectangle - Combo - Inline Content",
          "component": "17261320",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 8,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "7",
          "maxInsertions": 25,
          
          "watchElement": ".fdn-content-body",
          "astAdList": [
            {
              "adType": "rectangle",
              "displayTargets": "desktop|tablet"
            },{
              "adType": "rectangle",
              "displayTargets": "desktop|tablet|mobile"
            }
          ]
        },{
          "name": "Inline Links",
          "component": "18838239",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 12,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "11",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        },{
          "name": "Air - Leaderboard Tower - Combo - Inline Content",
          "component": "17261321",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 12,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "11",
          "maxInsertions": 25,
          
          "watchElement": ".fdn-content-body",
          "astAdList": [
            {
              "adType": "leaderboardInlineContent",
              "displayTargets": "desktop|tablet"
            },{
              "adType": "tower",
              "displayTargets": "mobile"
            }
          ]
        }
      ]

Last spring — just in time for the Denver Nuggets' successful run at the National Basketball Association championship — United Airlines rolled out an omnipresent TV campaign saluting the Mile High City and the "Beautiful People of Denver."

The photos were great. The tune that went with them? Not so much. And now that damn song is back, in a commercial the airline is running during the NBA playoffs...adding insult to injury, since the Nuggets were eliminated in the Western Conference semifinals this year.

For reasons known only to United's marketing team, to celebrate its Mile High hub, the airline decided to resurrect one of Meredith Willson's most obscure — and irritating — songs from the1960 musical The Unsinkable Molly Brown, a highly fictionalized account of the life of Margaret Brown, a Denver resident who was indeed on the Titanic and did exhibit unsinkable attitudes...but was never actually known as Molly.

At one point in the show, members of Denver society are mocking "Molly" when she and her husband — fresh from Leadville, where Johnny Brown owns "the richest mine in the United States" — crash a party in the Capitol Hill neighborhood, where they are building a home (today the Molly Brown House Museum), and she lauds the "bea-u-ti-ful people of Denver."

Hear it for yourself here, as sung by Tammy Grimes, who starred as Brown on Broadway (Debbie Reynolds had the role in the 1964 film):
Thankfully, United did not include any lyrics (much less any info on their musical origins) beyond the earworm repetition of the "bea-u-ti-ful people" line in its commercial. Because with all the challenges of summer travel out of the Denver airport, "never a dog fight/never a brawl" just doesn't ring true.

At its June 10 meeting, Denver City Council will consider whether to approve a $1.5 million contract with United that would make it the exclusive marketing partner in the airline category at venues and locations citywide.

Before the vote, could we ask that ditching the song be part of the deal?

Beautiful! The people of Denver thank you.

This post has been updated from last June. For more on Molly Brown, don't miss the Pride event at the museum on June 11; find details here.

Become A Member

BEFORE YOU GO...
Can you help us continue to share our stories? Since the beginning, Westword has been defined as the free, independent voice of Denver — and we'd like to keep it that way. Our members allow us to continue offering readers access to our incisive coverage of local news, food, and culture with no paywalls.

Patricia Calhoun is editor-in-chief of Westword, the alt-weekly she co-founded in September 1977. She’s been inducted into the Colorado Press Association Hall of Fame, the Association of Alternative Newsmedia Hall of Fame and the Colorado Restaurant Association Hall of Fame. She’s also received dozens of local, state and national awards for writing, including first place for feature writing and first place for column writing with the Society of Professional Journalists. Patricia is a weekly commentator on Colorado Inside Out, PBS 12's public affairs roundtable, which has won two Emmys.

Contact: Patricia Calhoun

Follow:

Facebook: patricia.calhoun.927