The Clown with the Tear-Away Face (also know simply as the Clown) is one of the minor characters in Tim Burton's 1993 stop-motion Disney film The Nightmare Before Christmas. He is a resident of Halloween Town who, like the other residents, sought to celebrate Christmas.
Background[]
Physical appearance[]
He is an obese clown with purple-ish skin, dark purple lips, a red nose and sharp teeth. He normally wears a cream-colored suit with purple spots and green and purple striped sleeves. He also wears a purple and green propeller cap, a black belt with a purple and green star buckle and brown shoes. He also has a rubber chicken and a green yoyo on his belt and is always show riding a unicycle. It is shown that whenever he has his face is on, he speaks in a high voice, but when his face is off, he speaks in a deep, booming voice.
As his name suggests, he can tear his face clean off, revealing nothing but darkness.
Personality[]
He appears to act quite jolly and demented and enjoys taking part in Halloween Town's events.
Appearances[]
The Nightmare Before Christmas[]
The Clown with the Tear-Away Face is first seen during the musical number "This is Halloween" singing his part before tearing-off his face to reveal complete darkness just before disappearing into a puff of smoke. He is later seen at the end of the song where he is seen celebrating Halloween with the other citizens after Jack Skellington emerges from a fountain just before Jack leaves. After Jack leaves, the Clown comments, "This has never happened before" while talking with two witches just before the Mayor of Halloween Town plans to sound the alarm to find Jack.
The Clown is later seen riding his unicycle into the Town Meeting feeling curious of Jack's Christmas ideas. Later when Jack made a plan to take over Christmas, the Clown helps Jack's Christmas plans alongside the other citizens of Halloween Town who help ready his sleigh for Christmas; throughout the sequence, he is seen placing a pumpkin figure onto a jack-in-the-box just before he gets it ready for Jack's plans to take over Christmas. However, it turns out that this plan was a bad idea.
At the end of the film after Jack defeated Oogie Boogie and saved Santa Claus who later saved Christmas, the Clown became aware of Jack's return to Halloween Town as the other citizens celebrate his return. He is last seen during the end of the film when it starts snowing in Halloween Town, curious of the snow falling into Halloween, commenting, "Why, it's completely new!"
Video game appearances[]
The Nightmare Before Christmas: The Pumpkin King[]
The Clown with the Tear-Away Face appears in the game and rewards Jack with the Pumpkin Bomb, the final weapon of the game.
The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie's Revenge[]
He also appears in Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie's Revenge where Jack finds him the sewers upon his return. The Clown then unlocks the gate so that Jack could proceed to the graveyard. In the residential areas, the Clown's unicycle was out of control causing Jack to use one of Dr. Finkelstein's inventions to stop the unicycle. He is voiced by Danny Elfman in the movie and by Dee Bradley Baker in the video game spin-off.
Gallery[]