THEY were Scotland's "Greatest Showmen", who brought variety to the masses and helped nurture some of the greatest stars of the 20th century.

Now the remarkable story of the Collins family from Glasgow is to be revealed in BBC Two Scotland documentary, to be shown tomorrow [TUES] night.

Nearly a century before Hugh Jackman donned a top hat and tails in Hollywood smash The Greatest Showman, the pioneering Scots booked and befriended stars from WC Fields and a young Charlie Chaplin to Stan Laurel and Sir Harry Lauder.

Like PT Barnum with his Greatest Show On Earth, they also showcased a caravan of weird and wonderful acts -- from Lofty the 9ft 3ins giant and his 3ft 6ins sidekick, the "Swiss Midget" Seppetoni, to the Woman with Ten Brains and fish-swallower MacNorton, the human aquarium.

Another extraordinary act, the Human Gasometer, would swallow petrol and cook an omelette with a flame from his ignited breath.

The hour-long documentary, The Collins Variety Agency, reveals how Scotland's first variety agency was launched by showman Fred Collins, an orphan from the East End of Victorian Glasgow, who began writing songs for entertainers like his lifelong friend Harry Lauder before turning performer and then agent and impresario.

Fred brought WC Fields, one of the biggest names in vaudeville, to Aberdeen where his juggling act was said to be one of the best shows ever seen in the city. He also introduced a young Charlie Chaplin -- then part of a song and dance troupe called The Eight Lancashire Lads -- and Dundonian Will Fyffe, "Scotland's greatest character comedian", still famed for his song I Belong To Glasgow.

It was on a talent finding tour of Europe in 1915 that Fred and his eldest son Horace, then 15, discovered their "biggest" star -- the Dutch giant Jan van Albert, whom they renamed Lofty.

Fred's great grandson Ross Collins, 46, who researched the family's story, said: "Fred and Horace often toured Europe looking for new talent and on one of these trips they went to Brussels and they met Jan Van Albert who was billed as 'the Dutch giant'.

"At the time he was performing in a show that wasn't doing very well and he wasn't being that well treated. He rechristened him Lofty for the British stage. Seppetoni I think spent quite a lot of the performance sitting on Lofty's shoulder, although that must have been hard because physically he didn't have a great deal of strength, like a lot of giants don't."

Ross' father Randle, 83, who remembers the super-tall star added: "He was taken under Grandpa's wing and made a public figure using his height. His partner was Seppetoni who became his brother in law.

"Lofty would appear dressed in frock coat and top hat and Seppetoni was in an attache case all curled up. He would open the case and out popped the little chap and the act just was what you could expect between a very very big man and a very very little man.

"As far as I know they got on like a house on fire, the two men. Lofty was the mainstay of the show -- I can remember as a little boy seeing him in the Pavilion Theatre, Glasgow, in the number one dressing room. I was taken backstage and of course my eyes popped out of my head. I must say that Lofty was very nice to me as a kid."

It was Horace who created Scotland's first real theatre circuit including the Pavilion in Glasgow, Theatre Royal in Edinburgh, the Palace in Dundee and the Tivoli in Aberdeen as well as the Shakespeare Theatre in Liverpool which helped attract big-name performers from London to Scotland, via the Mersey.

Fred's other son Pete set up his own agency and became a master of "Would You Believe It?" shows, making stars out of an array of oddities.

Ross said: "Pete brought back together Lofty and Seppetoni and he toured them very successfully for a number of years, and he also brought in other acts.

"MacNorton, the human aquarium, was a regurgitator who could swallow any number of live fish and then bring them up in any order. He also had the Human Gasometer who swallowed petrol and then he would light his breath and produce a flame on which I believe he cooked an omelette.

"The Woman With ten Brains; she had a piece of chalk on the tip of each of her fingers and then she could write a letter and then a word and then a sentence simultaneously with all ten of her fingers at once.

"One of his big shows was 'Hold Your Breath', that was a giant tank of water. In it he had acrobatic frogmen, an undersea tea party and stripping mermaids I believe.

"He also did a show called 'Jungle Fantasy' where he had a crocodile hypnotist and African warriors and nobility -- African princes and princesses. The African warriors were all students that he'd met in pubs in the Tottenham Court Road in London."

Pete toured Europe and America, where he realised television was the next big thing. On his return to Britain he set up his own production company and used his stage acts to make television programmes.

The dawn of television brought the golden era of Scottish variety to a close in the 1950s, but in a career spanning over 60 years, the Collins family shaped the landscape of modern theatre.

The programme, which includes never-before-seen footage, also looks at Fred's crusade for improved performers' rights, his charity work and his legacy.

There remains great affection for the Collins family and huge respect for the changes they pioneered in show business, including reinventing the format of pantomime.

Ross said: "That formula that Fred created is still the formula that's used today. It's still the formula that audiences expect and that they love and they come to theatres all over Scotland to experience."

* The Collins Variety Agency, BBC Two Scotland tomorrow [TUES MAY 29] 9-10pm