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Green’s Dictionary of Slang

Ethiopian paradise n.

also Ethiopian heaven

[poor black theatre-goers could usu. afford only the cheapest seats]

(US) the top gallery in a theatre.

1889		St Paul Dly Globe (MN) 23 Dec. 3/4: Ladies clad in seal-skins actually occupied seats in the Ethiopian heaven.
1900		E.H. Babbitt ‘College Words and Phrases’ in DN II:i 33: Ethiopian paradise, n. Top gallery in a theatre.
1902		Sun (NY) 18 Sept. 6/1: This is sad news to those of us whose youth was gladdened by sucking oranges in the Ethiopian paradise.
1979		Maledicta III:2 168: Ethiopian paradisen Upper balcony of a theater where Negroes segregated.
1996		Eble Sl. and Sociability 80: [These] are unlikely to have been originated by African American speakers – for example, [...] Ethiopian heaven for ‘topmost balcony in a segregated theater’.