Rasbach 's setting have also been lampooned , most notably in the Our Gang short film " Arbor Day " ( 1936 ) , directed by Fred C. Newmeyer , in which Alfalfa ( played by Carl Switzer ) , sing the song in a whiny , strained voice after a " woodsman , spare that tree " dialogue with Spanky ( George McFarland ) , sing " Trees . " Film critic Leonard Maltin have called this " the poem 's all @-@ time worst rendition . " In his album Caught in the Act , Victor Borge , when playing requests , respond to a member of the audience : " Sorry I don 't know that ' Doggie in the Window ' . I know one that come pretty close to it , " and proceed to play the Rasbach setting of " Trees . "