Relationships

This week: A candid conversation with Jujubee about love and mistakes, plus a look back at Anthony Stewart Head and the iconic Taster's Choice ads.

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You’re reading Meredith Goldstein’s Love Letters newsletter. Each week, Meredith shares tales of human connection, thoughts on public policy and relationships, and behind-the-scenes stories about the Love Letters column and podcast. Sign up to get the dispatch.

Our new podcast episode should put you in a good mood.

It features Jujubee, a drag queen who is wild and extroverted onstage, but in real life is Airline Inthyrath, a homebody who loves his cats.

Airline joins us on the show to talk about a recent relationship that taught him some big lessons.

As he puts it, he behaved like an “idiot man.” 

He tells us, “You know, men are dumb, even the gay ones, and we make mistakes, and we’re sorry.”

You’ll get the context when you listen. Find the episode right here.

Airline, as Jujubee, is one of the stars of “Stop! That! Train!,” a big movie coming out this weekend. It’s directed by Adam Shankman who also made the musicals “Hairspray” and “Rock of Ages.”

“Stop! That! Train!” also stars RuPaul, who plays the President of the United States.

Let this Love Letters episode kick off Pride Month with laughter, joy, and lessons.

Father figure

The condolence texts rolled in on Friday afternoon.

“Giles,” they said.

I never knew English actor Anthony Stewart Head personally, but people in my life understood that as a “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” fan, I loved the man who played the show’s wise, flawed, and loving patriarch, Rupert Giles.

For many “Buffy” fans, Head, as Giles, became the face of what a good adult could be. 

The actor – also known for playing Rebecca’s smarmy ex-husband on “Ted Lasso” – died last week at 72. Head’s daughters reported, via social media, that “he passed away peacefully of complications due to pneumonia, surrounded by his family.”

When the news broke, my editor asked if I wanted to write something about Head’s work, to honor his performance on “Buffy” and beyond. I said yes.

My next thought, as I considered the depth of his career, was: “I want to talk about the sexy coffee commercials.”

As the Love Letters columnist, I need people to know about these ads – and to give credit to Head for being a romantic lead. 

Because he was. 

The Taster’s Choice campaign starring Head is still one of the most romantic stories – and performances – I’ve ever seen.

For those who don’t know, Head starred in a series of coffee commercials for Nescafe’s instant coffee from 1987 to 1993. Originally a campaign in the UK for Gold Blend, it was adapted for the US for the brand Taster’s Choice.

I would have been about 12 when these ads began airing on my television.

The commercials – featuring Head and English actress Sharon Maughan – were a serialized story, told in parts, over years, about two people who meet, flirt, woo, and fall for each other – quite deeply. It was like a mini soap opera with product placement; all temptations and possibilities led back to the coffee.

You can watch a compilation of the ads all here.

I remember my divorcing mother’s eyes fused to our television set when Head came onscreen, during show breaks, in primetime. 

Head’s eyes were soft. He appeared bashful yet confident and seductive. We giggled in the living room watching Head deliver banter we only hoped could happen in real life.

Over time, Head’s character became more serious about his love interest, and it was fascinating to watch him play the journey from lust to love. 

Head and Maughan did the US ads in American accents; I recommend watching all versions. There are many compilations on YouTube.

It might seem silly to mention these commercials when Head’s breadth of work includes so many important episodes of “Buffy,” a show that taught many young people that dads, and chosen family, can be good.

It wasn’t until years after watching “Buffy” that I realized that the man playing this thoughtful school librarian (and guardian to a vampire slayer) was the same actor who wooed my household with a coffee ad.

After figuring it out, I thought, “This man can do anything.”

For those who’ve never seen Head in “Buffy,” I do recommend the episode “Band Candy” (Season 3, Episode 6), in which Head, as Giles, becomes a teen version of himself after consuming cursed confections sold for the high school band. He plays it all in that episode – comedy, drama, stuffiness, seduction.

But for younger people who may know Head from “Buffy” and “Ted Lasso,” consider the Taster’s Choice/Gold Blend. He earnestly delivers a coffee commercial as theater. 

Great performances are great performances, no matter the venue. Romance is romance, wherever you see it.

Cat person

I’ll leave you with a photo we took of Airline, our podcast guest, during lockdown in 2020. That’s when we first met, when I was doing a story about Jujubee, and we were both at home, on Zoom, still indoors.

This is what Airline looks like when he’s not Jujubee. This is his most comfortable self, in images with his cats. It makes his work as Jujubee that much more extraordinary. Today’s newsletter: all about performers with range.

— Meredith

Eric Magnussen for the Boston Globe