NEW YORK -- A Mikhail Gorbachev look-alike stunned pedestrians in Midtown Manhattan Tuesday and even got to meet the king of capitalism - Donald Trump -- who wished the communist pretender well in his travels through New York.
The impostor drew hundreds of gawkers who did not expect to see the balding first comrade stroll down Times Square to mingle with the working folk.
As the 'Gorby look-alike' traveled through Midtown in a limousine, the real Gorbachev was arriving at Kennedy International Airport in the city's borough of Queens for the first day of a visit to New York that will end Friday.
Gordon Elliot, a freelance television producer, said he came up with the idea for the Gorbachev impostor to see how jaded New Yorkers would take to the charismatic Soviet leader.
'The reaction was incredible,' he said. 'Ninety-nine percent of the people thought it was true.'
After greeting people in Times Square, the Gorbachev look-alike showed up at Trump Tower, a bastion of capitalism, and caused enough of a stir to draw the building's owner down to the street.
A filming of the meeting broadcast on the television program 'A Current Affair' showed the Gorbachev impostor needling Trump about his red tie.
Although Elliot said Trump 'was absolutely taken' by the impostor, a spokesman for the real estate baron denied the saavy capitalist was duped.
'No way,' said Trump spokesman Dan Klores when asked if the capitalist thought he had actually met the Soviet leader.
Soviet officials were forced to cancel initial plans to visit Trump Tower because of scheduling difficulties.
The Gorbachev impostor was actually Ronald Knapp, a American-Indian who bears an uncanny resemblance to the Soviet leader, Elliot said.
