peanut gallery

Noun

historical idiomatic

(historical) In the nineteenth century, the cheap seats at the back of a theatre or in the upper balcony.

Japanese Meaning

（歴史的）劇場の後部座席や上層バルコニーに設けられた、廉価な座席

What is this buttons?

During the 1890s, the theater's peanut gallery jeered at the actors from the dim upper balcony.

Google Translation / DeepL Translation

19世紀、その劇場の後方や上階のバルコニーにある安い席の観客たちは、薄暗い上階から役者たちにやじを飛ばした。

Details

Sense（1）

(historical) In the nineteenth century, the cheap seats at the back of a theatre or in the upper balcony.

Sense（2）

(historical) The upper balcony to which black patrons were restricted in racially segregated venues such as theatres.

As early as the 1870s, most theaters allowed African Americans to sit in designated areas, while the dress and parquet circles were reserved for whites. A few theaters did not allow blacks at all. In the early 1920s, black leaders protested these “peanut galleries” on the grounds that African Americans paid the same ticket price. A boycott was organized that resulted not only in the closing of the peanut galleries but also closing of the theaters to blacks altogether. It was not until the public accommodations drive in the early 1960s that all theaters were opened to blacks. On May 14, 1963, the Louisville Board of Aldermen passed the public accommodations law that made discrimination in all public facilities illegal.

Google Translation / DeepL Translation

Details

Sense（3）

(idiomatic) Any source of heckling, unwelcome commentary or criticism, especially from a know-it-all or of an inexpert nature. May also now refer to general audience response: "Let's hear it from the peanut gallery."