For almost half a century, they've been doing the Can-Can but now, as a local comedy headliner might quip, they can't. The high-kicking dancers of Les Folies Bergere in Las Vegas, who turned the showgirl into a quintessential symbol of Sin City, are the latest cultural institution to fall victim to the economic slump.

On Saturday, nine months short of its 50th birthday, the Tropicana Resort and Casino will pull the plug on the long-running stage show, blaming falling box office receipts. The decision will force almost a hundred leggy beauties to hang up their feathered head-dresses and rhinestone thongs for the last time.

During its heyday, Les Folies Bergere would attract brat-pack stars such as Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. Developed from the show of the same name in Paris, it featured some of Vegas's first topless dancers. But the future has been in doubt ever since Tropicana Entertainment, which owns the hotel, filed for bankruptcy protection last May. It is one of several Vegas hotel firms facing financial pressure following a decline in local gaming revenues of 23% in December, the last month for which figures are available.

"Because of the financial climate, business is very off in Vegas," said Jerry Jackson, who has directed Les Folies since 1975. "I've been working in Vegas since the 50s, and I've never seen it so sparse… I saw the writing on the wall. I would rather it close than continually try to create without any funds... I don't know what else I can do. I have taken stones off of old costumes and had them sewn on to new costumes or new fabric. But you can only do so much."

In a town where bulldozing history is a daily ritual, the closure of a long-running local fixture – even Les Folies Bergere, which is the oldest stage show in the US – wouldn't normally bring much more than a shrug of the shoulders and a new exhibit in the nearby Nevada State Museum. But these are hard times for Las Vegas, which has some of the US's highest foreclosure rates, together with an unemployment rate of about 10%.

The loss of a show representing the resort's golden era has sparked widespread local dismay as occupancy at the city's massive hotels falls from a historic peak of 90% to just below 70%.