When Berenice talks about her former husbands, references are made to the thumb of one and the coat of another. These are not explained. In the novel there is an earlier speech that explains their significance. Since the movie was cut, the earlier speech was most likely deleted, leaving the latter references unexplained and puzzling.
Berenice says that she married her first husband at 13, and he died five years later, in 1940. That would make her 30 years old at the time the movie was made, but she is clearly much older (Ethel Waters was 56).