[5][6][1] After the war, Garnett entered the film industry as a gagwriter, primarily for Mack Sennett and Hal Roach,[1][7] but also for Fatty Arbuckle, Mabel Normand, and Chester Conklin.

[11] He co-wrote Broken Chains (1922) for Sam Goldwyn;[12] The Hottentot (1922) for Thomas Ince;[citation needed] and That's My Baby (1926) for William Beaudine.

[13] Garnett directed some shorts, such as Fast Black (1924),[14] Riders of the Kitchen Range (1925), and All Wool (1925),[9] and wrote the comedy shorts Honeymoon Hardships (1925),[15] Hold Tight (1925), Three Wise Goofs (1925),[16] No Sleep on the Deep (1925), Salute (1925), On the Links (1925),[citation needed] Who's Your Friend (1925),[10][16] The Funnymooners (1926), Puppy Lovetime (1926), Smith's Visitor (1926), and A Beauty Parlor (1926).

With Stan Laurel (in his pre-Laurel and Hardy days), he made the films A Mandarin Mixup (1924), Detained (1924),[citation needed] and West of Hot Dog (1924).

They co-wrote Somewhere in Wrong (1925), Twins (1925), Pie-Eyed (1925), The Snow Hawk (1925), Navy Blue Days (1925), The Sleuth (1925), and Dr. Pyckle and Mr. Pryde (1925).

[17][18] He adapted a 1919 play for Up in Mabel's Room (1926), which starred Marie Prevost,[19] and co-wrote Frank Capra's The Strong Man (1926)[18] and Edward Sedgwick's There You Are!

The Athene carried a small number of people, including Garnett's friends Polly Ann Young and Regis Toomey, and his wife Helga.

[33][5][34] He returned to Hollywood in October 1936[35][36] and signed with 20th Century Fox, where he made Professional Soldier (1936), Love Is News (1937), and Slave Ship (1937).

[38][5][39] He provided a story for Columbia Studios' Cafe Hostess (1940)[38] and directed Universal's Seven Sinners (1940), which starred Marlene Dietrich and John Wayne.

[1][10] At Paramount, he made Wild Harvest (1947); A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1949), which starred Bing Crosby and Rhonda Fleming;[45][10] and the Mickey Rooney film The Fireball (1950), which he also co-wrote.

[50][51][10] Garnett started directing television shows in the late 1950s with He began working in TV with Four Star Theatre[52] and Main Street to Broadway (1953).

[52] Other shows he worked on included The Deputy, Whispering Smith, 87th Precinct, The Tall Man, Please Don't Eat the Daisies, The Beachcomber, The Loner, The Legend of Jesse James,[55] and Riverboat,[56] He also directed Wagon Train, Naked City, Death Valley Days, Rawhide, Bonanza,[52] Laramie,[57] Frontier Circus, [citation needed] and Gunsmoke.

[58] In 1942, he created the NBC Red comedy-detective radio program Three Sheets to the Wind (1942), which starred John Wayne as Dan O'Brien, an American private eye posing as a drunk on a luxury liner sailing from England in 1939, and Helga Moray, which ran for six months at 11:30pm Sunday nights.

[66] While in London,[citation needed] Garnett met British author and actress Helga Moray whom he married on his yacht, the Athene, in November 1934.