Lalla Carlsen (1889–1967) was a Norwegian singer and actress, and is regarded as one of the most legendary female revue artists in Norway.

Personal life

Lalla Carlsen was born in Svelvik

Svelvik

is a town and municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Svelvik.The town of Svelvik was separated from the rural municipality of Strømm to become a municipality of its own in 1845. The two municipalities were merged back together on 1...

 as the daughter of shipmaster

Captain (nautical)

A sea captain is a licensed mariner in ultimate command of the vessel. The captain is responsible for its safe and efficient operation, including cargo operations, navigation, crew management and ensuring that the vessel complies with local and international laws, as well as company and flag...

 Carl Alfred Christensen and Laura Nilsson. The family moved to Christiania

Oslo

Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...

 when she was ten years old. She married composer, pianist and kapellmeister

Kapellmeister

Kapellmeister is a German word designating a person in charge of music-making. The word is a compound, consisting of the roots Kapelle and Meister . The words Kapelle and Meister derive from the Latin: capella and magister...

 Casten Carlsen in 1917, and adopted the name Lalla Carlsen.

Career

She studied at the music conservatory

Norwegian Academy of Music

The Norwegian Academy of Music is a music conservatory located in Oslo, Norway, in the neighbourhood of Majorstuen, Frogner. It is the largest music academy in Norway and offers the country's highest level of music education. As a university college, it offers both undergraduate and postgraduate...

 in Oslo from 1909 to 1913, as a soprano singer. She made her professional debut in the musical comedy Høstmanøver in 1914. She performed at the cabaret Chat Noir

Chat Noir

Chat Noir is a cabaret and revue theatre in Oslo, Norway. It was established in 1912 by Bokken Lasson. The current director is Tom Sterri.-Establishment:...

 from 1915 to 1947, and also appeared at the revue stages Casino and Carl Johan Teatret. Her husband Carsten Carlsen was kapellmeister

Kapellmeister

Kapellmeister is a German word designating a person in charge of music-making. The word is a compound, consisting of the roots Kapelle and Meister . The words Kapelle and Meister derive from the Latin: capella and magister...

 at Chat Noir, and her regular accompanist. Her film début was in the silent film from 1927, and she starred as the singer in the film from 1932. Between 1928 and 1931 she recorded about forty songs and sketch

Sketch comedy

A sketch comedy consists of a series of short comedy scenes or vignettes, called "sketches," commonly between one and ten minutes long. Such sketches are performed by a group of comic actors or comedians, either on stage or through an audio and/or visual medium such as broadcasting...

es. During the Second World War Carlsen performed at the Carl Johan Teatret, and her husband composed melodies for several of her songs. Her introduction of Finn Bø

Finn Bø

Finn Bø was a Norwegian songwriter, revue writer, playwright, journalist and theatre critic. He is particularly remembered for his song Norge i rødt, hvitt og blått, which became extremely popular in 1945. Among his other popular songs are Nå går'n på gummisåler and Bare rundt omkring, both from...

 and Arild Feldborg

Arild Feldborg

Arild Feldborg was a Norwegian playwright, revue writer, script writer, humorist and broadcasting person.-Personal life:...

's song "" in 1945 was met with wild enthusiasm. After the war

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 she played minor character roles in twenty films, between 1947 and 1965, such as in I slik en natt from 1958, and in the 1961 film Bussen by Arne Skouen. She performed for radio, television, at the revue theatres Edderkoppen

Edderkoppen Theatre

The Edderkoppen Theatre is a theatre located at St. Olav's place in Oslo, Norway.From 1967 to 2003 it was called the ABC theatre. The theatre is known for varied entertainment, ranging from comedy to musical shows.-History:...

 and Chat Noir, and at traditional theatres. She acted in O'Neill

Eugene O'Neill

Eugene Gladstone O'Neill was an American playwright and Nobel laureate in Literature. His poetically titled plays were among the first to introduce into American drama techniques of realism earlier associated with Russian playwright Anton Chekhov, Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, and Swedish...

's Skjønne ungdom at Rogaland Teater

Rogaland Teater

Rogaland Teater is a theatre in Stavanger, Norway.-Background:The theatre building was built in 1883, on a parcel of Kannik prestegård. It was designed by architect Hartvig Sverdrup Eckhoff, and had initially almost 500 seats. The building housed Stavanger Faste Scene from 1914 to 1921, and...

, played the character "Mrs. Peachum" in an adaption of Brecht

Bertolt Brecht

Bertolt Brecht was a German poet, playwright, and theatre director.An influential theatre practitioner of the 20th century, Brecht made equally significant contributions to dramaturgy and theatrical production, the latter particularly through the seismic impact of the tours undertaken by the...

/Kurt Weill

Kurt Weill

Kurt Julian Weill was a German-Jewish composer, active from the 1920s, and in his later years in the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for his fruitful collaborations with Bertolt Brecht...

's musical The Threepenny Opera

The Threepenny Opera

The Threepenny Opera is a musical by German dramatist Bertolt Brecht and composer Kurt Weill, in collaboration with translator Elisabeth Hauptmann and set designer Caspar Neher. It was adapted from an 18th-century English ballad opera, John Gay's The Beggar's Opera, and offers a Marxist critique...

at Riksteatret

Riksteatret

Riksteatret is a Norwegian touring theatre. It was established by law in 1948. Its first performance was in Kirkenes in 1949, with Sigurd Christiansen's play En reise i natten. The theatre plays on about 200 different stages throughout the country. Its first theatre director was Fritz von der...

, the character "Aase" in Ibsen

Henrik Ibsen

Henrik Ibsen was a major 19th-century Norwegian playwright, theatre director, and poet. He is often referred to as "the father of prose drama" and is one of the founders of Modernism in the theatre...

's verse drama Peer Gynt

Peer Gynt

Peer Gynt is a five-act play in verse by the Norwegian dramatist Henrik Ibsen, loosely based on the fairy tale Per Gynt. It is the most widely performed Norwegian play. According to Klaus Van Den Berg, the "cinematic script blends poetry with social satire and realistic scenes with surreal ones"...

, and played in O'Neill's drama Anna Christie

Anna Christie

Anna Christie is a play in four acts by Eugene O'Neill. It made its Broadway debut at the Vanderbilt Theatre on November 2, 1921. O'Neill received the 1922 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his work.-Plot summary:...

.

Lalla Carlsen became an honorary member of the Norwegian Actors' Equity Association

Norwegian Actors' Equity Association

The Norwegian Actors' Equity Association is an association of Norwegian actors. Its main purpose is to improve actors' working conditions, and important issues during the early years were contractual conditions, pensions, and regulation of foreign ensembles...

in 1958. She was honoured with a statue at her birth place Svelvik in 1989.