CAn anyone advice me on a free 1950's font to be used on packaging?
Thank you!

Thank you - I thought there might be some obvious ones as there are a lot of crap ones out there

"some obvious ones", "a lot of crap"

What's obvious to me wouldn't be what's obvious to you! It all depends on the use to which the font will be put, the nature of the "packaging" and its contents, and of course personal tastes.

You also didn't say whether this was to be used as a large attention-getting logo/display or for small text details such as the ingredients list on a food product.

Do you need fonts that include accented characters, or support for any languages other than English? Do you need variants such as bold, italic, small caps, outlines, etc. ?

I won't dare go into a discussion of "crap"! As they say, one person's crap is another's pot of gold.

- Herb

I can give you the perfect answer, but my charge is $20.00 USD

Look for fonts that looks hand-lettered
Here are a few to get you started:

A handlettered Typewritter/Stymie mix:
http://www.impallari.com/projects/overview/life-savers-handlettered-stymie

A handlettered relaxed futura:
http://www.impallari.com/projects/overview/ranchers

A monoline script by Rand Holub:
http://www.google.com/webfonts/specimen/Sacramento

A casual sans brush style, also by Holub:
http://www.google.com/webfonts/specimen/Oregano

Hipster Script, also by Holub:
http://www.myfonts.com/fonts/sudtipos/hipster-script-pro/

Another script, based on Chesterfield advertising:
http://www.google.com/webfonts/specimen/Satisfy

Anything from Filmotype:
http://www.myfonts.com/foundry/Filmotype/

A lot more from Nick Curtis:
http://www.myfonts.com/foundry/Nicks_Fonts/

and Font Dinner:
http://www.myfonts.com/foundry/Font_Diner/

You can also explore my favorites at flickr, there are lots and lots of ads from the 1950's
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pabloimpallari/favorites/