In 1922, Yarbrough entered the film business working in silent pictures, first as a "prop man" and later rising through the ranks to become an assistant director.
His directorial debut for a feature-length film was Rebellious Daughters, made by the low-budget studio Progressive Pictures in 1938.
[citation needed] His success came in the 1940s and 1950s when he directed comedy teams like Abbott and Costello (five films: Here Come the Co-Eds, In Society, Jack and the Beanstalk, Lost in Alaska, and The Naughty Nineties), The Bowery Boys (five films: Angels in Disguise, Master Minds, Triple Trouble, Crashing Las Vegas, and Hot Shots) and horror/cult movies, such as The Devil Bat, King of the Zombies, She-Wolf of London, and House of Horrors.
[citation needed] He directed episodes of Walter Brennan's series The Guns of Will Sonnett and The Addams Family.
His last theatrical film was 1967's Hillbillys in a Haunted House, a mixture of comedy horror and country music, starring Basil Rathbone and Lon Chaney Jr. [citation needed]