Sorcerer in training
"Slappy Squirrel from Animaniacs is an aversion of this. The gag behind Slappy isn't really that she's a fallen starlet seeking to regain her fame — it's that she's a retired slapstick comedy star whose old antagonists don't seem to have let go as well as she has, only now, she's not only smarter than her opponents, she's old, grumpy, sarcastic and arthritic (think of an aged, vindictive Bugs Bunny), so not only is great harm befalling her geriatric rivals, it's gotten easier with practice and she enjoys it more."
Even in No Face Like Home, Slappy doesn't want to get back on top to be a star again to relive past glories. She thinks the modern stars stink (and the sample we see does), and wants to get back in the game to beat them at it. The plastic surgery was just a means to an end, due to the 'youth appeal' of Hollywood.
Edited by Candi Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving. -Terry Pratchett
Insane Troll Logician
Shouldn't it be "red dwarf starlet?" When a star gets old, it usually becomes a red dwarf. White stars are new. If I understand correctly, a white dwarf wold simply be a small, new star. Of course, with "red dwarf" there's an obvious confusion issue with a certain British sitcom... Perhaps "neutron starlet?" Still there, but nobody can see it?
Where does a 400-pound gorilla sleep? In a banana hammock! Hide / Show Replies
No, old, burnt-out stars of a certain size become white dwarfs. Red dwarfs are stars that are too small (about half the size of the Sun, which is one of the smallest "proper" stars possible) to "properly ignite" and become regular stars. They stay small and insignificant their whole (very long) life.
Is this trope No Real Life Examples? Because I think Mae West certainly counted in her later days. Her bizarre performances in Film/Sextette and Myra Breckinridge (both bombs) can only be the work of a star desperately attempting to relive her younger days of success.
But adding such examples seems like it might be a slippery slope...
"It's just a show; I should really just relax"