Legendary playboy Hugh Hefner is pinching pennies and looking for extra cash under the pillows at his Holmby Hills mansion.

The Playboy magazine editor-in-chief has been eyeing his household staff and other asistants for possible cutbacks, sources said.

More surprising: In the last few months he’s resorted to selling tickets to his private parties at the Gothic Tudor estate, according to a person close to Hefner.

The mansion’s hedonistic grounds have long been rented out for corporate events, but Hefner’s private parties have been free to those invited. Now, John and Jane Q. Public can buy their way in to some of those events – albeit for a hefty price. Tickets to parties hosted by Hefner sell for $5,000 to $25,000, depending on the event and celebrity guest list.

Tickets to this year’s Halloween party, for example, which in the past has drawn celebrities such as Paris Hilton, are starting at $10,000.

Little known beyond the walls of his estate, the man who founded Playboy in 1953 has never owned the 26,000-square-foot mansion. His company, Playboy Enterprises Inc., purchased it in 1971 for an estimated $1.05 million and leased it to Hefner. He pays $700,000 annual rent.

Now with his company losing money and its stock trading at under $3.50 a share late last week – one-third of its value compared with a year ago – Hefner has had to cut back in his golden years. The swinger turned 82 in April.

London’s Telegram reported last week that Hef was teetering on bankruptcy and that he is being forced to send some of his resident bunnies packing. Those reports have been swirling around Hollywood for the past several months, but Playboy executives shrug them off as unfounded.

Martha Lindeman, Playboy Enterprises’ senior vice president, said that reports about Hef possibly filing for bankruptcy were “absolutely untrue and absurd.”

Others close to Hefner said that while there have been cutbacks at the mansion, the bunnies were staying.

“They’re not even on the payroll. So, they would be the last to go,” said a person close to Hefner. “The mansion, Hefner and the bunnies are a world-famous brand that could never be duplicated. Nobody’s going anywhere.”

However, some support staff, including maids, gardeners and the like, have been laid off or may be soon, although it is unclear how many are imperiled.

Lindeman would not comment on the matter.