Raw Talent: The Adult Film Industry As Seen by Its Most Famous Male Star [Paperback]

Jerry Butler (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1990

The first publication of "Raw Talent" created an extraordinary flurry of publicity. Jerry Butler appeared on dozens of talk shows, capturing audiences with his intensity and charm. Reviews of the book lauded Butler's honesty and remarked on the double standard that permits explicit violence on film - but not explicit sex. The book sold out four printings; nonetheless, reactions within the adult film industry included heated debate and an unofficial blacklisting of Butler. The former star of X-rated films and winner of many awards, Jerry Butler wrote the book that many warned would "finish him" in the business that had rewarded him with money and fame.But it is characteristic of Butler that these warnings didn't prevent him from producing this devastatingly honest appraisal of the adult film trade - and of himself. For, while Butler is frankly critical of an industry that treats actors and actresses like throw-away props, and allows unprotected sex in the age of AIDS, he reserves his most candid commentary for himself. "Raw Talent" tells the story of Butler's erotic voyage from average child to sex star. The epilogue added to this new edition answers the question: where will Jerry go from here?

Product Details

• Paperback: 323 pages
• Publisher: Prometheus Books (September 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 087975625X
• ISBN-13: 978-0879756253
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #219,004 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Nothing Sacred, May 28, 1999

By 

Keath D. Graham "keatho" (West Hollywood, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Raw Talent: The Adult Film Industry As Seen by Its Most Famous Male Star (Paperback)

Jerry Butler dishes the dirt on his male and female co-stars. Between his snitching on their sexual proclivities, he does unload some useful and scary information that really makes guys like me forget about ever wanting to become a porn star! For instance, he asserts that 70% of the actors and actresses have some sort of disease. Some actresses, he states, are so "professional" that they'll cover up the penile sores during fellatio scenes so the camera can't see them. Gee...how nice of the gals. Overall, the book is highly readable in the same way passing a car crash is highly watchable. Butler's apparent honesty about the "glamour" of the x-rated movie world is both scary and poignant at the same time.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Raw Talent, February 1, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Raw Talent: The Adult Film Industry As Seen by Its Most Famous Male Star (Paperback)

This book is somewhat self serving, but it is a step above other porn star biographies (such as Porn King by John C Holmes, or Inside Linda Lovelace, by Linda Lovelace.)
It chronicles the career of a porn star after the advent of video in the adult film industry.
Paul/Jerry talks about his fears while working in the industry, the stigma attached to the industry, and his constant search to find love.
It gives a unique view from inside the industry, but a lot of the "intimate" details he gives about specific stars in the industry seem like they could have been ommitted, because they are very opinionated and biased.
I would recommend this book, but if anyone really is interested in learning more about the adult film industry, I would also suggest "the X factory," "Sinema," as well as the films, "the Girl Next Door," "Wadd," "Sex, the Annabel Chong Story" and "Porn Star" (each of which gives a perspecitve on a different era of the adult entertainment industry.)

18 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A porn star who hates porn yet can't quit, July 21, 2003

By 

Laurie "moviemailer" (Va. Beach, Va. United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Raw Talent: The Adult Film Industry As Seen by Its Most Famous Male Star (Paperback)

Jerry Butler's autobiography quotes him:"This is what I'd tell young people about porno: how you can die,or commit suicide,or become a drug addict,or how you can become even more lonely and insecure than you already are". This immature troubled young man couldn't make it as a hockey player due to his temper so tried his good looks in Hollywood to find that he was only good enough for X-rated sex movies. He became addicted to drugs. He was already highly sexual so sex was no problem until he ran into women he didn't like,gay men who annoyed him,etc. This book has a few typos & a lot left out- like what happened to him after 1990 ? It also has more than it's share of lies including certain facts regarding the size of his penis,how many films he made with Shauna Grant,how much drug intake he had,etc. He made no secret of how unhappy he is with the fact that women are more highly paid. He also made no secret of how much he couldn't hold on to a woman due to his emotional problems. His confused rambling didn't seem anything more than a sad story of a man who wrote a book to make money and commit career suicide at the same time. Jerry Butler wants to be a porn actor yet he despises all the ugliness that comes with it so he wrote a book that lets the world know the flaws of many female costars then cheated on his wife then published the book. Thirteen years later in 2003, we are left to wonder WHAT HAPPENED TO JERRY BUTLER ? Somehow we still want to know because he is intelligent & caring enough to realize just how messed up he is emotionally for doing porn. He agrees with Traci Lords & other porn stars= it is better to watch porn than to perform in it & take all the risks.