Historic Earle Theater

The Historic Earle Theatre in Surry County was built in 1938 by Earl Q. Benbow and Percy A. Boone as a vintage movie theatre seating over 400 people. It is home to the Old-Time Music Heritage Hall, which works to protect, preserve, and promote Surry County music through black and white portraits of old-time music legends, memorabilia, recordings, books, exhibits, audio-guided tours, lessons, educational workshops, dances, jams, documentaries, and daily showings of the UNC-TV Folkways documentary "Scurry County Music." The Earle also hosts concerts, live theatre, and movies, and it is the annual site of the Tommy Jarrell Festival on the last weekend in February. Its stage is used each Saturday from 11:00 am until 1:30 pm for WPAQ'S "Merry-Go-Round," the nation's second-longest continuously running live radio broadcast. In 1958, after a citywide "Andy Day," the theatre featured the premiere of "A Face in the Crowd," Andy Griffith's first movie, and in 2009 it was the site of the North Carolina premiere of his last movie, "Play the Game."

Mount Airy, North Carolina · United States