MANILA, Philippines?Most people who enter show business dream of becoming durable and bankable stars, but only a few manage to pull off that extremely difficult feat. More often than not, the next show biz denizen you meet will turn out to be, not a star, but a wannabe, has-been, or that most miserable of all creatures, a never-was.

Wannabes, actually, are the best bananas in the bunch. They may be unknowns, but they have their whole future ahead of them?and it?s for them to make or break.

Fame and fortune

How to make sure that they?ll end up on easy street? They should prepare themselves well for their crack at fame and fortune, so when it does come, they?ll be good and ready.

All too often, all that wannabes have going for them is their ?wanna.? Wanting something desperately is a good motivation, but desire without real talent or ?K? is a cul de sac.

So, if you ?wanna,? be smart about it, firm up your talent, surround yourself with a team that?ll work hard for your success?and, go for it!

Has-beens are another caution in the biz. They used to be stars, but for one reason or other, they couldn?t hold on to their popularity.

Talent, or the lack of it, could be a factor. Some people get to star in a production even if they aren?t really talented, because they?re well-connected or have slept their way to the top. After a failed starrer, however, the new luminary quickly loses his or her ersatz star glow?and nobody wants to touch him or her with a 50-foot pole.

Other former stars do have talent, but they luck out because they?ve gone on extended leaves from show biz. When they come around to making their comeback, they realize with a sinking feeling that, as far as most show-biz fans are concerned, it is ?Out of sight, out of mind.?

Scandals

Then, there are the ex-stars who get themselves involved in shocking scandals that they can?t live down. And mature stars whose popularity dips simply because local fans are so ga-ga over youth.

Finally, some stars lose their luster because they take their careers for granted, and lazily keep doing the same thing over and over again, until even their most avid and rabid fans expire from utter boredom.

All those factors are a grim reminder to currently popular stars to never rest on their laurels and take their fans for granted. ?You?re only as good as your last starrer? is another show biz dictum that should be scrupulously observed, on pain of stellar excommunication!

Now, for our third group of losers: The never-weres. They really are the most pathetic bananas in the bunch, because they haven?t done anything about?well, anything! They?ve just dreamed of stardom, but have left that dream to wither on the vine. So, all they can do now is to play the ?what if? game?and that?s no fun at all!