Gable toured in second-class stock companies, finding work with traveling tent shows, lumber mills and other odd jobs. He made his way across the Midwest to Portland, Oregon, where he worked as a necktie salesman in the Meier & Frank department store. Also working there was local stage actor Earle Larimore, (the nephew of Laura Hope Crews who portrayed Aunt Pittypat alongside Gable in "Gone with the Wind") who encouraged Gable to return to acting. Though Larimore didn't invite him to join his theater group The Red Lantern Players, he did introduce Gable to one of its members, Franz Dorfler, and they started dating. After the couple's audition for The Astoria Players, Gable's lack of training was evident, but the theater group accepted him after cajoling from Larimore. Gable and Dorfler moved to Astoria, Oregon, touring with the group until its bankruptcy, and then moved back to Portland where Gable obtained a day job with Pacific Telephone and started receiving dramatic lessons in the evening.