From Nurse to Worse

In the Three Stooges movie, August 1940 "From Nurse to Worse," their 49th in the series, the three are approached by a friend Jerry, an insurance salesman who concocts a scheme where they can claim $500 a month if one of them pretends to be crazy. Curly's elected to act like he's a dog, except their plan backfires when the examining doctor demands he perform brain surgery on him.

In one scene where they're trapped in a dog kennel, Moe calls Curly "Seabiscuit," the championship race horse who beat Triple Crown winner War Admiral in a 1937 race and was voted American Horse of the Year in 1938. The three are seen racing inside a smoke-filled fumigated dog kennel when Moe and Larry realize they're running in circles. The two stop and see Curly continue to run around the dog catcher's truck before they stop him, labeling him "Seabiscuit."

"From Nurse to Worse" was actor Joe Palma's first Stooges' appearance. The former mortician-turned-actor was in a typical role as a background figure when he was playing a male nurse in the hospital where Curly was about to be operated. The non-distinct actor usually was seen in dozens of movies as an extra. His claim to fame was as a substitute for the late Shemp Howard in 1955 after the Stooge died from a heart attack. Through the magic of film editing, he stood in for Shemp in four Stooges' episodes, earning the moniker the "Fake Shemp."