Anita Enters came to New York City from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, late in 1919 to begin study at the Art Students League. (According to personal correspondence and various newspaper interviews, her given name is Angna, although she was addressed by her family, her early friends, and her husband by the nickname Anita.) She was probably 18 years old at the time, although her birth date is usually given as April 28, 1907. If the description of her life before arriving in New York, as told in her fictionalized biography Silly Girl, is only partially true, it is certain that she was a precocious, withdrawn, independent child.

After the first quarter at the Art Students League, she became discouraged with her artwork and did not register for the next quarter's classes.