Meet the Depression-era vaudeville family that set a world record for school-hopping

Before there was Dance Moms or Toddlers & Tiaras, there was the Williams family, hauling their tap shoes and tent show across North Carolina with zero f*cks given about consistent schooling for their kids. And somehow, they turned out great.

Our story's leading man is one Rusty Williams, a comedian who started out doing (yikes!) blackface and clown routines in the 1910s. But the real plot twist came when his regular piano player bailed, and in walked Dorothy "Dottie" Hurrey to save the show. Reader, he married her.

Fast forward to the 1930s: Rusty and Dottie had spawned two tiny performers, Wilma and Billie, who were born wearing tap shoes. The whole fam hit the road with their tent show, rolling into whatever random empty lot they could find in Small Town, NC. Picture this: Dottie's cranking out tunes on the piano in homemade costumes she whipped up herself, Rusty's doing his comedy bits, and the kids are tap-dancing their hearts out between ancient movie reels like some kind of Depression-era Von Trapps.

Here's the part that makes this story extra – these kids set a world record for "Most Schools Attended By Children Whose Parents Clearly Had No Concept Of Educational Stability." And get this: they didn't just survive all those school transfers — they were actually better than the regular students. These tiny showbiz pros were out there living their best "you don't have to choose between jazz hands and geometry" lives.

The whole thing was like some weird mashup of Little House on the Prairie meets Gypsy meets Save Our Schools, but with more tent-raising and presumably way more sequins.

[Note: In keeping with modern sensitivities, we should acknowledge that elements of 1930s entertainment, including blackface performances, are rightfully considered offensive and unacceptable today.]

Photos courtesy of State Archives of North Carolina. License: Public Domain